Veteran’s Affairs nominee accused of misconduct
Colleagues claim that Jackson had ‘explosive’ temper, drank on duty
WASHINGTON – Current and former colleagues of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson have told Senate investigators that Jackson repeatedly drank on duty, has an “explosive” temper and garnered the nickname “candy man” among White House staff because of his prolific prescription practices.
At a Secret Service going-away party, investigators reported, Jackson allegedly got drunk and “wrecked a government vehicle.”
One nurse said Jackson, President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, wrote himself prescriptions and when caught, directed his assistant to write it for him instead. He also provided a “large supply” of Percocet, an opioid medication, to a staffer.
Sen. Jon Tester, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate committee that delayed Jackson’s confirmation hearing in light of the allegations this week, released the details Wednesday from his staff’s interviews with 23 current and former colleagues of Jackson.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House is looking into the allegations but maintained Jackson’s record as a White House doctor is “impeccable” and that he has “received more vetting than most nominees.”
“He’s a very highly qualified, highly respected person in the military and in the medical community, and that’s something that we strongly feel that veterans need in the VA,” she said.
Sanders said the White House was still working with lawmakers to reschedule a confirmation hearing they delayed Tuesday.
A separate, independent investigation in 2012 found Jackson exhibited “unprofessional behaviors” that contributed to a “toxic” workplace and recommended the White House consider removing him, a report on the findings shows.
When investigators returned to assess progress the next year, they found some improvements in morale at the roughly 50-person medical office, but noted Jackson still needed to “hone his self-awareness” of behaviors that trigger staff perceptions that “his actions are purely politically driven for his selfadvancement.”
Investigators recommended improved communication and “sharing the limelight with his staff.”
When asked about the findings Wednesday, Sanders did not directly address them but said Jackson had undergone four background checks since he started work as a White House doctor in 2006, including one conducted by the FBI after Trump announced his nomination last month.
“All of those revealed nothing and came back with a clean recommendation,” she said.
But it’s unclear whether such security checks would have assessed his management skills.
Jackson, 50, has been director of the White House Medical Unit since 2011 and as physician to the president since 2013.
On Capitol Hill Wednesday, lawmakers said they are awaiting the results of the Senate VA committee’s investigation, but some said they have growing doubts about his fitness to lead the VA, the federal government’s second-largest agency.