Washington (CNN) Some veterans groups are firing back after a comment Hillary Clinton made about the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal. The former secretary of state suggested in an interview late last week that the controversy which shook the VA last year was overblown, and Republicans used it to serve their own agenda.

"It's not been as widespread as it has been made out to be," Clinton said Friday on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" when asked about the scandal and how she would fix the VA.

Yet the federal government's own report contradicts Clinton's remarks.

The VA's inspector general concluded inappropriate scheduling practices at VA medical centers were "systemic" in 2014, after a CNN investigation revealed veterans were dying while waiting for care on "secret" lists at the Phoenix VA. The scandal led to the resignation of then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or IAVA, called her comments a "head-scratcher" firing off this response on Twitter.

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