Rep. Ronny Jackson says every claim in scathing Pentagon report is ‘false,’ though witnesses say he drank on duty and more as White House physician

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon’s watchdog agency has found that Ronny Jackson – the freshman Texas congressman and retired admiral who served as the top physician to the last two presidents – sexually harassed a subordinate, routinely harangued underlings and, while on overseas trips, violated a ban on drinking and took sleeping pills that would have impaired his ability to treat the commander in chief in an emergency.

Jackson vehemently denied the allegations detailed in the 37-page report released Wednesday, many of which surfaced when President Donald Trump picked him to run the Veterans Administration in spring 2018, calling them “false and recycled.”

That nomination crumbled within weeks as senators heard about his abusive behavior toward colleagues and his nickname, “Candyman,” stemming from supposedly generous dispensing of sleeping pills and other drugs.

“This is a political hit job because I have stood firm and my support for President Trump and his America first agenda. The far left and the liberal press has demanded that I back away from this support and I will not,” the Amarillo Republican said in a 90-second video posted Wednesday evening. “To be clear, I am proud of the work environment I fostered under three different presidents of both political parties.”

The Defense Department inspector general’s findings could trigger a military review that results in a loss of retirement pay. The watchdog agency opened its inquiry in 2018 before Jackson began running for Congress and had not disclosed any findings, to Democrats or the news media.

Investigators interviewed 78 witnesses who worked under Jackson between 2012 and 2018 in the White House Medical Unit.

Of those, 56 “told us they personally experienced, saw, or heard about him yelling, screaming, cursing, or belittling subordinates.”

“Many of these witnesses described RDML [rear admiral] Jackson’s behavior with words and phrases such as ‘meltdowns,’ ‘yells’ for no reason,’ ‘rages,’ ‘tantrums,’ ‘lashes out,’ and ‘aggressive.’ These witnesses also described RDML Jackson’s leadership style with terms such as ‘tyrant,’ ‘dictator,’ ‘control freak,’ ‘hallmarks of fear and intimidation,’ ‘crappy manager,’ and ‘not a leader at all,’” the report says.

Jackson’s denial contradicted witness accounts gathered by Pentagon investigators in every particular.

“I take my professional responsibility with respect to prescription drug practices very seriously. And I flat out reject any allegation that I consumed alcohol while on duty. That absolutely did not happen,” the congressman said in his video. “I also categorically deny the false report that I made an inappropriate comment to a male coworker, about a female coworker. I have never done anything of the such. That is not who I am, and that did not happen.”

The inspector general says otherwise.

Four witnesses told investigators that during an April 22 to April 29, 2014, trip to Manila with President Barack Obama, Jackson got drunk and made lewd comments about a woman who worked in the White House Medical Unit, saying he wanted to “see more of her tattoos.”

Late one night during that trip, he pounded on the hotel room door of a female subordinate and woke her, telling her “I need you” and “I need you to come to my room.”

It turned out that he wanted her to take photos of him eating a local delicacy, a pungent fertilized bird egg, which the subordinate described as “frat boy-type behavior.” But that was not initially apparent in her retelling.

“He was kind of like leaning with one arm against the railing of my doorway, and … he had kind of bloodshot eyes. You could smell the alcohol on his breath, and he leaned into my room and he said, `I need you.’ I felt really uncomfortable,” the woman told Pentagon investigators. “When a drunk man comes to your room and they say, ‘I need you,’ your mind goes to the worst. I really felt it was a sexually inappropriate comment.”

That wasn’t the only time Jackson was seen drinking alcohol during a presidential trip, in violation of regulations barring consumption within 24 hours of the president’s arrival.

Witnesses described another incident two years later in Argentina.

At least as serious, a half-dozen or more medical personnel told investigators that Jackson took Ambien, a prescription medicine used to induce drowsiness, during long overseas flights, potentially impairing his ability to react to an emergency.

Jackson succeeded Mac Thornberry, a Clarendon Republican who retired after 13 terms that included a stint chairing the Armed Services Committee. Jackson now serves on that panel, on a subcommittee that oversees military personnel.

Jackson placed second in a 15-person March primary, lagging 39-20 to Josh Winegarner, an executive at the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. He won the July 14 runoff 56-44 with enthusiastic backing from Trump.

Winegarner used the allegations against Jackson, though it wasn’t enough to overcome Trump’s support.

Jackson hit back hard. “Winegarner is intentionally trying to deceive the voters by attacking Ronny Jackson with lies that were initially pushed by the far Left and liberal media outlets like CNN in order to tear Ronny down as a Trump supporter and Nominee,” his campaign said at one point.

As White House physician at the end of the George W. Bush administration and throughout the Obama era, Jackson was well-liked by White House aides and apolitical. He gained public prominence in the Trump years by attesting to the obese president’s pristine health, saying that with a slightly better diet he could even live to be 200.

The Trump White House stymied the inspector general’s inquiry, which stalled its release until well after Jackson’s victories in a primary runoff and then the general election.

According to the report, the White House counsel insisted on having lawyers present for all interviews of personnel in the White House Medical Unit, a “chilling effect” that made the probe “unproductive.” The investigation was suspended for 10 months, from October 2018 to August 2019, while the counsel’s office weighed whether to invoke executive privilege.

Jackson retired from the Navy in 2019, after his VA nomination collapsed.

On KFYO’s Chad Hasty Show on Wednesday night, Jackson blamed disgruntled “four or five disgruntled employees that worked for Biden, during the Biden administration.” He led the White House Medical Unit during the Obama-Biden administration.

“This is part of the cancel culture…. None of this ever happened,” he said, insisting he is a target because he’s “an outspoken congressman speaking out against the far left and their insane liberal, you know, basically communist, socialist, Marxist agenda…. They just want to get rid of Ronny Jackson more than anything.”

Jackson said he thought the inquiry was closed until the day after President Joe Biden took office, when investigators contacted him and gave five days to respond to allegations in the draft report.

He insisted the timing shows the political agenda, though another explanation would be that allies in the Trump administration could no longer quash the probe.

The watchdog report recommends “appropriate action” by the Secretary of the Navy, which could include a reduction in retirement pay if the secretary concurs that his behavior was less than honorable.

“This report is politically motivated. It has purposely left out key facts that at best misrepresent the truth, and at worst show a blatant disregard for the truth for partisan gain,” Jackson said in his video.

“My entire professional life has been defined by duty and service. I’ve honorably served my country in the United States Navy for 29 years, both as an officer deployed to overseas combat zones, and as a physician serving patients who trusted me with their care and the care of their families. I’ve served three presidents and their administrations in the White House. And now I serve you, the people of Texas 13 in Congress. I have not and will never conduct myself in a way that undermines the oath I took to serve my country, and my constituents.”