Dr. Ronny Jackson (Image: Pentagon)
A report from the Pentagon inspector general released on Thursday acuses Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who served as a top White House physician of sexually harassed subordinates, taking sleeping pills on the job, bullying co-workers and being regularly intoxicated while working.
Jackson was the physician who oversaw the care of both former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Jackson sparked controversy after a string of overly-positive medical reports about Trump who is both elderly and obese. He was even parodied on Saturday Night Live.
Jackson was also nominated by Trump to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but his nomination was withdrawn after some these allegations first surfaced.
Thursday’s scathing probe of Jackson’s conduct while White House physician said he “disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated” subordinates. The report details a presidential trip to the Philippines where “Jackson made sexual and denigrating statements about one of his female medical subordinates to another of his subordinates. Specifically, he said that his female subordinate had ‘great t–s’ and ‘a nice ass’ and he would ‘like to see more of her tattoos.”
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The probe also confirmed the physician exhibited “intoxicated behavior in the middle of the night, pounding on her hotel room door, screaming, yelling, and overall loud behavior in his hotel room exhibited less than exemplary workplace conduct while on official travel to provide medical care for the President and other members of the traveling party.” Jackson also “took Ambien during official travel, raising concerns about his potential incapacity to provide proper medical care during this travel.”
After the report’s release, Jackson issued a statement saying, “I take my professional responsibility with respect to prescription drug practices seriously; and I flat out reject any allegation that I consumed alcohol while on duty,” Jackson said. “I also categorically deny any implication that I was in any way sexually inappropriate at work, outside of work, or anywhere with any member of my staff or anyone else. That is not me and what is alleged did not happen.”
It is unclear what measures, if any, House leadership will take to punish Jackson as a result of the Pentagon probe.
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