The Department of Defense Inspector General issued a damning report on the conduct of former presidential physician Ronny Jackson, elected to represent Texas as a Republican Congressman in November, saying he used alcohol, abused prescription drugs and sexually harassed coworkers during his time at the White House, CNN reports.
The DoD IG interviewed more than six dozen witnesses for this report, which was briefed to members of Congress on Tuesday. The report comments that the investigation was limited in scope and reporting because during the probe, IG investigators were not allowed to interview members of the White House medical staff without a representative of Donald Trump’s White House Counsel’s office present, which had a “potential chilling effect” on the accounts related. Interviews were conducted between October 11, 2018, and August 22, 2019.
As the head of the White House medical unit, Jackson was the physician responsible for answer the call when any medical emergency affected the President or other senior members of the Administration. However, the IG found Jackson was frequently incapacitated by the use of alcohol or prescription drugs like Ambien. An “overwhelming majority of witnesses (56) … who worked with [Rear Admiral] Jackson from 2012 through 2018 told us they personally experienced, saw, or heard about him yelling, screaming, cursing, or belittling subordinates,” the report says.
Jackson, who served in the position for parts of the Obama and Trump Administrations in the normally low-profile position of White House Physician, came to public attention when he took to the podium of the White House Press Room in 2018 to claim astonishingly that the obviously obese Trump “might live to be 200 years old.” He also claimed that Trump body-mass index was 29.9, claiming Trump was 6’3″ tall and weighed just 239 pounds, an obvious uncount.
Many people interviewed for the IG report decried Jackson’s management of the unit. “Many of these witnesses described RDML 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,'” it notes.
Other witnesses detailed episodes where Jackson was unfit to respond to potential emergencies, particularly on trips when he appeared under the influence of intoxicants while on call. During a 2015 trip to Manila, the Philippines, four witnesses described a drunken Jackson aggressively pursuing a female subordinate.
Per the CNN report: “A witness interviewed by the IG said that shortly after arriving in Manila, Jackson began drinking in the hotel lobby, then got into a car with a drink in his hand ‘to go out on the town.’ Another witness said he could smell alcohol on Jackson’s breath later that evening. Back at the hotel, one of the witnesses said he saw Jackson ‘pounding’ on the door of his female subordinate’s room. When she opened the door, Jackson said, ‘I need you,’ and, ‘I need you to come to my room.'”
“Witness 1, a medical subordinate, told us that during the Asia trip, before arriving in Manila, RDML Jackson told him a female medical subordinate (Manila Witness 2), who was also on the trip, had ‘great t**s,’ and ‘what a nice a**,’ and that RDML Jackson also told Manila Witness 1 that he would ‘like to see more of her tattoos,'” the report says.
Jackson responded to an inquiry from CNN about the report, saying it was “politically motivated” because he is a supporter of Donald Trump..