Sarah Palin is under consideration for secretary of veterans affairs, a close Palin aide and a top Donald Trump transition official told ABC News. 
 
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 The Palin aide said that Palin recently told Trump transition officials, "I feel as though the megaphone I have been provided can be used in a productive and positive way to help those desperately in need." 
 
 The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest government agency, with over 300,000 federal employees and a budget of $182 billion for 2017. 
 
 Palin's son-in-law and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer posted a SarahPAC video to his Facebook page earlier this week, with excerpts from a speech she gave that heavily focuses on her work with veterans and her connection to the community. Her eldest son, Track Palin, served in Iraq in 2008. The video, which is not new, seems to clearly show her interest in the position, and in he speech she hits the VA "bureaucracy," saying it is "killing our vets." 
 
 The speech includes Sarah Palin's ideas on reforming the VA, including improved health care, using military skills to return to the workforce and securing their benefits. The speech also includes a criticism of Barack Obama. 
 
 "Stop blaming the victim and wake up, Mr. President," she says. "While Christians bow our heads to pray for you, radical Islamists want to cut off your head. The only thing standing between us and savages, it's the red white and blue, it's the United States military. And if you love freedom, thank a vet. Thank them. Honor them." 
 
 Palin, the GOP's 2008 vice presidential nominee, has not been to Trump Tower in New York City to meet with the president-elect, but she was one of his earliest and highest-profile endorsers. The Palin aide said she has had discussions with the transition team, and the top transition official confirms this. 
 
 Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is also in the running for the VA position. He visited Trump Tower on Nov. 21 and told reporters he had a "great meeting" with the president-elect about the post. 
 
 "We obviously spoke about my passion and about his passion, which are veterans and veterans' issues," Brown said, noting that he has worked on veterans' issues since serving in the Massachusetts state legislature. "The toughest job in the Cabinet is to lead the VA, because while it has so many angels working there, it has so many great problems as well." 
 
 Other names that have surfaced for the position include Rep. Jeff Miller and Gen. Keith Kellogg. 
 
 A former Alaska governor, Palin has also been talked about for energy secretary and secretary of the interior. Earlier this month, she posted on Facebook about her “Drill, baby, drill” energy philosophy. 
 
 "NOW is the time to shut off the Saudi oil cartel flow valve and develop our own God-given natural resources. The only excuse not to become energy independent is a political excuse," she wrote. 
 
 The same day, she wrote about her family's connection to Native Alaskans — who are significantly affected by Department of the Interior policies. Her husband, Todd Palin, is part Native Alaskan. 
 
 Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign CEO and the president-elect's pick for chief strategist, is close with Palin. In 2011 he made a documentary about her titled "The Undefeated." 
 
 After ABC News reported on her being under consideration for VA secretary, she posted a message on Facebook that she then tweeted, writing in part, "We should be grateful we'll soon have a commander-in-chief who will champion our vets and honor the promises our nation made." 
 
 We should be grateful we'll soon have a commander-in-chief who will champion our vets and honor the promises our... https://t.co/lb5wdrlrWu — Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) November 30, 2016 
 
 ABC News’ Ely Brown and Ben Siegel contributed to this report. ||||| Sarah Palin seems to really want to be next VA chief 
 
 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share She shared a video touting her commitment to veterans after reports surfaced that she's being considered for secretary of Veterans Affairs. Newslook 
 
 Sarah Palin is openly lobbying to be head of Veteran Affairs in the Trump Administration 
 
 In a post on Facebook the former Alaska governor raved about Donald Trump, linked to an ABC story that she was being considered for the post and included a message from her medal of honor recipient son-in-law. 
 
 Dakota Meyer is married to Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin and received the medal of honor in 2011. 
 
 According to the ABC report that Palin was promoting, she offered herself up to Trump’s transition officials but the chances of her getting the position are slim. 
 
 Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is a more likely candidate for the post and has met with the president-elect over the position. 
 
 "He’s obviously going to take my application, or interest, under consideration. I’m glad that he called," Brown told reporters earlier this month. "I think I’m the best person, but there are some tremendous people out there and I don’t look at it as a competition." 
 
 Transition officials have said that in addition to Brown, former Texas governor Rick Perry and Florida Congressman Jeff Miller, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, are also being considered for the post. The officials have requested anonymity to be able to speak freely. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2gLT5qS ||||| Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with a post on her public Facebook account appeared Wednesday to confirm a report that she’s under consideration by President-elect Donald Trump to become secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
 
 The post included a highly stylized video produced by SARAHPAC, her political action committee, about the former vice presidential candidate’s ideas on how to fix the troubled agency, and a link to the ABC news report that first broke the news of her vetting by the Trump transition team. ABC said that both a Palin aide and the Trump transition team confirmed she’s under consideration to run the VA. 
 
 “We should be grateful we’ll soon have a commander-in-chief who will champion our vets and honor the promises our nation made; a pro-private sector individual who surely understands bigger government is NOT the answer; a President who promised to drain the swamp and clean up all government corruption … all things our vets and active duty troops deserve,” Palin wrote, followed by an American flag emoji. 
 
 Palin, who unsuccessfully ran on a ticket with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 2008, would take the helm of an agency marked by scandal and crisis. The VA also stands at a policy crossroads, with many lawmakers in favor of allowing veterans to more widely use private doctors and hospitals, a plan vehemently opposed by many Democrats and some veterans groups. In 2014, lawmakers scrambled to expand access to VA health care when it was discovered that some veterans seeking care were waiting so long that they died before seeing a doctor. 
 
 Palin, who is known for her brash speaking style, if tapped and confirmed would also inherit a position in which current VA Secretary Robert McDonald received considerable blowback for a public statement made about wait times. McDonald was excoriated by lawmakers and advocacy groups for comparing VA wait times to lines at a Disney theme park. 
 
 Palin’s video lays out three major platforms for what she wants to see from federal veterans’ care: allow veterans to receive care in the private market through vouchers, allow veterans re-entering the civilian workforce to use military certifications in place of civilian ones for job skills, and maintain veterans’ retirement benefits. 
 
 Those changes won’t come without a price. For example, lawmakers are currently grappling with how to extend a $10 billion private care program that expires in August 2017 or whenever the money allocated to it runs out. Recently, CQ reported that the program, while designed to provide a new route of access for patients facing distance issues or long wait times, was mostly serving veterans who couldn’t get the care they wanted at a VA facility. That’s triggered questions about whether the program is being administered in the way it was intended. 
 
 There’s also a slew of concerns from House authorizers about the way the VA is spending money on a construction project in Denver and reports of lavish art purchases at medical facilities — issues which were the subject of a federal subpoena issued by House lawmakers in September. ||||| WEDNESDAY UPDATE 
 
 Speaking to Donald Trump supporters Wednesday in Oklahoma, Sarah Palin suggested her son’s arrest on domestic violence charges is related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 
 
 "I guess it's the elephant in the room. My own family going through what we are going through today, with my son a combat vet, having served in the Stryker brigade fighting for you all America in the war zone," Palin told the crowd. "But my son, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen, and every other member of the military has given to the country." 
 
 Track Palin, 26, is accused of striking his girlfriend. See the full story below. He spent a year deployed in Iraq with the Army. 
 
 "I can relate to other families who feel ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with," Palin continued. "And it makes me realize more than ever it is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them." 
 
 A Palin family attorney, John Tiemessen, earlier told The Associated Press that respect for the family’s privacy is appreciated “as Track receives the help that he and many of our returning veterans need.” 
 
 On Wednesday, Sarah Palin suggested Obama’s performance as Commander in Chief is related to the struggles of veterans like her oldest son. 
 
 “That starts from the top,” she told the crowd. “It’s a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder, if they have to question, if they’re respected anymore. It starts from the top. The question though that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, do you know what we go through?” 
 
 Meantime, the political dance continues between Palin and Donald Trump, as the presidential candidate has dodged questions of whether he would make Palin his running mate. 
 
 While appearing on NBC’s Today Show Wednesday morning, Trump said he didn’t think Palin would would to do it. When questioned again, Trump said, “She’s already been through that.” 
 
 But Trump said Palin could certainly be part of his administration if she wanted a position. Palin told CNN’s Jake Tapper last September that she might be interested in becoming energy secretary. 
 
 -- KTUU staff & wire reports. Information from NBC, CNN, Associated Press 
 
 ORIGINAL STORY 
 
 By Paula Dobbyn and Kyle Hopkins / KTUU 
 
 The son of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin appeared in court today on misdemeanor charges related to a domestic violence incident last night at the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee’s Wasilla home. 
 
 Track Palin, 26, pleaded not guilty in Palmer district court today on charges of fourth-degree assault, interfering with a domestic violence report and misconduct involving a weapon. A booking officer at Mat-Su Pretrial said Palin posted bail this afternoon. 
 
 The arraignment came on the same day former Gov. Palin announced that she would endorse Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. 
 
 Police say they got a call troopers saying a woman had called 911 reporting a man had punched her in the face and that a weapon was involved. According to an affidavit from Wasilla police officer Andrew Kappler, a man who identified himself as Track Palin also called 911. 
 
 When Kappler arrived at a West Parks Highway home -- a property owned by former Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd -- he saw a man walking outside talking on a phone. The man identified himself as Track, the Palin’s eldest child. 
 
 Track Palin had a visible injury to his right eye. His eyes were bloodshot and he smelled of liquor. Palin was “uncooperative, belligerent, and evasive” when questioned by Kappler, according to the affidavit. 
 
 The officer asked where the woman was who called 911. 
 
 Palin said he didn't know and denied that there was a firearm involved. 
 
 He grew increasingly hostile and was handcuffed, Kappler said in his sworn statement. 
 
 Other officers arrived and located a woman whom KTUU is not naming. She was hiding underneath a bed inside the home. 
 
 Kappler determined that Palin and the woman were involved in a relationship and an argument blew up over the woman’s contact with an ex-boyfriend. 
 
 The two had been arguing for most of the night. He stated they had dinner earlier and went to his sister's house to hang out. From there, Palin told Kappler that he and the woman went to look at some nearby property that he was considering purchasing. While at the property, they argued again about the ex-boyfriend. 
 
 Palin said the woman left him at the property and drove back to his sister's house after having consumed wine. 
 
 Palin had to walk back. A short time after being back at his sister's house, Palin and the woman decided to leave and go to his parent’s home on Lake Lucille where he also lives. 
 
 He told police they continued arguing there. The two threatened to call police on each other. 
 
 Palin said after he called 911, he couldn't find the woman. When Kappler asked Palin about his injured face, he said at some point his girlfriend "threw a bow," striking him. 
 
 Palin denied using a weapon during the argument but said “they were spread throughout both residences on the property.” 
 
 A breath test showed Palin with a blood alcohol content of 0.189, more than twice the legal limit to drive. 
 
 While Kapler was talking to Palin in one residence, Wasilla Police Sergeant Rader talked to the girlfriend. 
 
 Rader had heard crying coming from the upstairs. Inside a dark bedroom, he found a woman underneath a bed. Visibly distraught and with a head injury, the woman came out and identified herself. 
 
 She told police she and Palin, her boyfriend of one year, left a different residence together and argued the whole way home. Once they got to his home they argued in the car and the driveway. 
 
 “They were screaming and he was calling her names,” according to the affidavit. 
 
 The woman told Palin that she had called the cops even though she had not. It was an attempt to calm Palin down and to scare him away, police wrote. 
 
 Palin struck her on the left side of her head near her eye with a closed fist, according to the affidavit. 
 
 She got on the ground in a fetal position. Palin then kicked her on the right knee. 
 
 Palin took her phone and threw it across the driveway. She got the phone and went inside the house. 
 
 Palin went inside and got hold of a rifle. 
 
 He cocked it and was holding the rifle out from him with his right hand near the trigger and his left hand near the barrel, according to the police statement. 
 
 The barrel was held just away from his face pointed to the side. 
 
 He yelled, "do you think I won't do it?" 
 
 The girlfriend “was concerned that he would shoot himself and ran outside and around the house.” She didn't see where Palin went, so she went inside and up the stairs, where she hid under a bed. 
 
 Shortly after she heard Palin walking around inside looking for her. Palin left after not locating her. 
 
 Rader said the woman has bruising and swelling around her left eye. She complained of pain around that area as well as to her right knee, which was left with a small red mark. 
 
 An unloaded AR-15 rifle was located on the kitchen counter. 
 
 Palin's bail was posted at $1,500, according to court documents. 
 
 A pretrial conference is scheduled for Feb. 19. 
 
 BREAKING STORY: 
 
 Track Palin, the 26-year-old son of former Gov. Sarah Palin, was scheduled to appear in court today on charges of fourth-degree assault, interfering with a report of domestic violence and misconduct involving a weapon, court records show. 
 
 Wasilla Police say the charges stem from a home disturbance reported at 10:04 p.m. Monday. “An investigation revealed Track Palin had committed a domestic violence assault on a female, interfering with her ability to report a crime of domestic violence and possessed a firearm while intoxicated,” police wrote in a statement. 
 
 Palin was placed under arrest and is custody at Mat-Su Pretrial. He was held without bail until his first court appearance. 
 
 The arraignment scheduled in Palmer court today came as Sarah Palin made national headlines for her endorsement of Donald Trump. 
 
 An employee at the District Attorney's office in Palmer said she did not know the name of Palin's attorney or if he had yet acquired an attorney in this case. She said that the district attorney was not available to comment.
– Does Donald Trump have a big job lined up for loyal supporter Sarah Palin? The former Alaska governor is a candidate to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, a Palin aide and a Trump transition team official tell ABC News, which notes that the VA is the largest government agency, with more than 300,000 employees. USA Today reports that Palin appears to be very keen: In a Facebook post Wednesday, she praised Trump as a "commander-in-chief who will champion our vets." She also shared a video from her SarahPAC political action committee on her ideas to fix the agency's problems, along with an endorsement from son-in-law Dakota Meyer, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chicago Tribune reports. A spokesman for Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan tells Alaska Dispatch News that the senator would like to see Palin get the job. "Alaska has more veterans per capita than any other state, making this position critically important for our state," he says. Palin would be the first non-veteran in the role, though son Track Palin is an Iraq veteran. ABC notes that former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who spent 35 years in the Army National Guard, is also being considered for the post and, unlike Palin, has visited Trump Tower for meetings. Rep. Jeff Miller and Gen. Keith Kellogg have also been mentioned in connection to the role.