We thought we heard the last of former White House doctor Ronny Jackson after he withdrew his name from consideration to run the Department of Veterans Affairs (in the wake of an embarrassing report on his White House conduct, no less), but it appears we’re not finished with this guy yet.
Politico reports that the Defense Department’s inspector general is investigating Jackson’s conduct:
Bruce Anderson, a spokesman for the Defense Department’s inspector general, said in a statement Monday the watchdog has “initiated an investigation into allegations” against Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, who was forced to withdraw his nomination to be the secretary of Veterans Affairs in April amid allegations of drinking on the job and improperly prescribing medication.
Allegations that sunk Jackson’s nomination, detailed in a report by the Democratic staff of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee, included Jackson writing his own prescriptions, prescribed a large supply of the painkiller Percocet to a White House Military Office staffer (so large that it reportedly threw his own staff “into a panic”), and that Jackson crashed a government vehicle while drunk.
“The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated,” Jackson said in a statement when he withdrew from consideration. “If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years...Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these false allegations have become a distraction for this President and the important issue we must be addressing - how we give the best care to our nation’s heroes.”
Trump picked acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to be the permanent VA secretary back in May. As for Jackson, Politico reports that he’s still working in the White House Medical Unit, where at least one other doctor hates his guts.