What to know about Doug Collins, Trump’s pick to oversee veterans affairs

Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Georgia congressman Doug Collins to lead the Veterans Affairs Department in his new administration. The 58-year-old Collins is a Baptist minister who later became a lawyer. He has served as a chaplain in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Collins won notice defending Trump during the Robert Mueller probe into whether Russia improperly influenced Trump’s 2016 election victory. Trump was displeased when Collins wasn’t appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2019. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp instead decided to appoint Kelly Loeffler. Collins ran for the Senate anyway, finishing third in an all-party special election in November 2020.