Before Donald Trump nominated Ronny Jackson to be his secretary of veteran affairs, the White House physician was cleared four times by the FBI, said press secretary Sarah Sanders today (Apr. 25). Jackson has served in the White House since 2006.
However, numerous allegations against Jackson have recently emerged. A document released today by Democrats in the Senate Veterans Affairs committee contains detailed claims by 23 of Jackson’s former and current colleagues. All are anonymous.
According to the report, Jackson:
- was nicknamed “Candyman” by other White House staffers, as “he would provide whatever prescriptions they sought without paperwork”
- had “a pattern of handing out Ambien (to sleep) and Provigil (to wake up) on Air Force One staffers, without checking the patients’ history
- had “provided a large supply [of Percocet] to a White House Military Office (WHMO) staffer” without accounting for it
- had “a private stocks of controlled substances”
- “wrote himself scripts” and when caught, had his personal assistant do it on his behalf.
- “prescribed medications when other physicians would not”
- loosely prescribed medications to current and former White House staffers and their families
- wrote prescriptions with false beneficiary names
- has prescribing practices a physician described as “reckless”
- “purchased pharmaceuticals from an on-line retailer” without accountability
The memo also includes personal allegations:
- “the most unethical person I have ever worked with”
- “flat-out unethical”
- “explosive”
- “100 percent bad temper”
- “toxic”
- “abusive”
- “volatile”
- “incapable of not losing his temper”
- “the worst officer I have ever served with”
- “despicable”
- “dishonest”
- prone to “screaming tantrums” and “screaming fits”
- likely to “lose his mind over small things”
- “vindictive”
- “belittling”
- “the worse leader I’ve ever worked for”
- “intolerable”
- causing a work climate that felt like “walking on eggshells”
- someone who “would roll over anyone”
- “worked his way up on the backs of others”
- “was a suck up to those above him and abusive to those below him”
- a “kiss up, kick down boss”
- “put his needs above everyone else’s.”
According to the document, physicians and nurses who worked with him at the White House have said:
- “I have no faith in government that someone like Jackson could be end up at VA.”
- “this [working at WHMU] should have been the highlight of my military career but it was my worst assignment”
- “worst experience of my life.”
The document also claims that Jackson was intoxicated while on duty:
- one occasion when “Dr. Jackson could not be reached when needed because he was passed out drunk in his hotel room”
- his reaching for the medical bag while intoxicated to show authority
- the time he “got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle” at a Secret Service going away party.
Quartz reached out to Jackson for comment.