Senate Dem details allegations on VA pick
Nearly two dozen colleagues reported issues to his office’s investigators
WASHINGTON – Current and former colleagues of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate committee, which 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.
Investigators reported they were told that Jackson got drunk at a Secret Service going away party and “wrecked a government vehicle.”
One nurse told investigators Jackson wrote himself prescriptions, and when caught, he directed his assistant to write them for him instead. He allegedly provided a “large supply” of Percocet, an opioid medication, to a White House staffer, which sent medical staff “into a panic” when they couldn’t account for the missing medication.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration is looking into the allegations but maintained that Jackson’s record as a doctor is “impeccable” and that he “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 working with lawmakers to reschedule a confirmation hearing.
Marneé Banks, a spokeswoman for Tester, noted the allegations from Jackson’s colleagues need to be investigated further and said the senator “continues to believe that the committee should continue to rigorously vet the nominee.”
In a two-page summary of the allegations, Tester’s office described concerns raised about his temperament, ethics and leadership skills.
Doctors, physician assistants and nurses told investigators Jackson had a pattern of handing out sleeping pills and other medication to help users wake up without taking patient histories. Doctors reported being uncomfortable with his loose prescribing practices, which included dispensing drugs to former White House staff “and, at times, their family members.”
Colleagues described instances of Jackson getting drunk on duty. “On at least one occasion, Dr. Jackson could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room,” the summary says.
Jackson allegedly fostered a hostile workplace, broke into “screaming tantrums,” was “vindictive” and became “intolerable” as he climbed the ranks.
Jackson, 50, started as a White House doctor in 2006, was promoted to director of the White House Medical Unit in 2011 and became physician to the president since 2013.