Trump VA nominee Ronny Jackson in jeopardy as Senate delays hearing amid 'serious allegations'

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Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin weighs in on the person nominated to be his replacement, the physician to the president, Ronny Jackson.
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nomination of Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs is in peril as the Senate delayed his confirmation hearing amid concerns about his record, and Trump said he was leaving the decision up to Jackson about whether to continue in the process.

Senate VA Committee leaders said Tuesday that they had received “serious allegations” about Jackson’s past service as a Naval and White House physician. They did not detail the charges. But multiple news reports said their concerns stem from complaints that he oversaw a hostile work environment, allowed the over-prescription of drugs and drank on the job.

Jackson has served as a White House doctor since 2006 and was selected by President Barack Obama to be the chief physician in the White House medical unit in 2013. 

Trump said that he hadn’t heard of the “particular allegations,” but he called Jackson “one of the finest people I have met” and ripped senators for questioning his record.

“I told Admiral Jackson just a little while ago, I said, ‘What do you need this for?’ This is a vicious group of people,” the president said. “He’s an admiral, he’s a great leader. And they question him about every little thing.”

Chairman Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the highest ranking Democrat on the VA committee, wrote a letter to Trump Tuesday asking for documentation “regarding allegations or incidents involving Rear Admiral Jackson from 2006 to present.”

“It is our privilege to serve veterans and their families and it is our duty to ensure that the individual who serves as Secretary of Veterans Affairs is qualified, capable, and appropriate for the position,” they wrote.

They postponed the confirmation hearing that had been scheduled Wednesday. No future hearing date has been set. Tester said the earliest the committee could finish its review would probably be in 10 days. Asked if the nomination was salvageable, he said “we’re still working on the vetting.”

“It’s totally his decision”

But it’s unclear if the nomination will survive that long. Trump said he was reticent to subject Jackson to the public gantlet required to continue, but “it’s totally his decision.”  

“I don’t want to put a man through — who’s not a political person. I don’t want to put a man through a process like this. It’s too ugly and too disgusting,” he said. “The fact is I wouldn’t do it. What does he need it for?…I don’t think personally he should do it.”

Trump surprised many by picking Jackson to take over the VA after he ousted former secretary David Shulkin last month via tweet. Jackson rose to national prominence earlier this year when he lauded Trump’s “excellent” health and “incredibly good genes.”

The White House earlier Tuesday issued a statement defending Jackson.

“Admiral Jackson has been on the front lines of deadly combat and saved the lives of many others in service to this country. He’s served as the physician to three Presidents — Republican and Democrat — and been praised by them all,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said.

But the revelations about potential problems with his past so late in the lead-up to his confirmation hearing led some Democrats to criticize the White House for failing to adequately vet Jackson before forwarding his nomination to the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., guessed that Trump, “who we know acts on impulse, had this nominee in the room, his doctor, and said, ‘Hey, let’s put you up.’ Without any vetting.”

“How did he get through the process with all of these allegations not even being made public?” he said. 

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who sits on the VA committee, said the number of people who have come forward with allegations is in the double digits.

“They’re people that knew him or know him, have worked with him, in the military or former military that are willing to talk to investigators about him,” he said. “So I don’t know what’s true, but I do know that all kinds of people are coming forward and that should have given the White House some pause on this nomination.”

Some Republicans also voiced similar concerns. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said if the allegations prove true, “then it’s a vetting miss.”

“Somebody who’s going to run an agency this big with so much responsibility, you want to make sure you’ve vetted properly,” Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said. “I’m not sure that was done here.”

Lack of experience

Until Tuesday, the most serious concerns raised about Jackson’s nomination were about his seeming lack of management experience and whether he had enough to lead the troubled VA, which has more than 300,000 employees and 1,200 medical facilities across the country. 

Jackson, 50, is a native of Levelland, Texas, who attended medical school at the University of Texas and began his active duty service in the Navy in 1995, according to his biography.

He did stints in Florida, Italy and Virginia before being deployed in 2005 to Iraq, where he was an emergency medical doctor at a trauma unit in Taqaddum. He began work at the White House the following year.

Jackson dismissed concerns about his experience earlier this month in an interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, saying, “I think I’ve got what it takes.”

More: 6 big things the new Veterans Affairs chief will have to address

More: 5 things to know about VA nominee Ronny Jackson

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