Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, MD — the White House physician and President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the VA — dropped out of the running the morning of April 26 as allegations of drunkenness, improper prescribing and creating a hostile work environment mounted against him.
"Going into this process, I expected tough questions about how to best care for our veterans, but I did not expect to have to dignify baseless and anonymous attacks on my character and integrity," Dr. Jackson said in a statement.
The allegations came from a two-page memo published April 25 by the Democratic staff of the Senate VA committee. The memo summarized the testimony of 23 of Dr. Jackson's current and former colleagues, according to The New York Times. The allegations are organized into three categories: prescribing practices, hostile work environment and drunkenness. Some of the allegations include:
- White House staff called him "Candyman" because he would give them any medications they wanted.
- He once provided a large supply of the prescription opioid Percocet to a White House military staffer without documenting it.
- Colleagues described him as "the most unethical person I have ever worked with," "toxic," "incapable of not losing his temper," "vindictive" and "belittling," among many other negative comments.
- Dr. Jackson crashed a government vehicle after getting drunk at a Secret Service going-away party.
- While on duty, he was found passed out drunk after a night of drinking.
The Washington Post published the memo in full here.
Dr. Jackson called the allegations false, and specifically denied wrecking the government vehicle, according to NPR. At a press briefing April 25, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Dr. Jackson had passed four background checks with "glowing evaluations from his superiors," including one conducted by the FBI, and none of the checks revealed areas of concern.
Dr. Jackson is reporting to work as the White House physician as usual, according to NPR. President Trump told Fox and Friends he has another candidate "with political capability" in mind for the post.
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