Did Mar-a-Lago members have undue influence on VA policy? This federal watchdog is on the case.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) will investigate whether three members of President Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago resort had undue influence on his administration's policy for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) requested a GAO probe in August after a report from ProPublica alleged this "informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA." Multiple current and former VA officials corroborated the report to CNN that month.

The three Mar-a-Lago members implicated are a Palm Beach doctor named Bruce Moskowitz, Marvel Entertainement chair Ike Perlmutter, and an attorney named Marc Sherman. "None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government," ProPublica reported, "Yet from a thousand miles away, they have leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of Americans." The three men said they'd simply volunteered requested advice without wielding any real authority.

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The GAO told Warren and Schatz in a Nov. 19 letter the investigation is "within the scope of its authority" and will begin in the spring. In the meantime, read more about the VA's longstanding and numerous problems here at The Week.