WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s White House physician, Adm. Ronny Jackson, withdrew his nomination to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Thursday, citing the “distraction” from a string of what he termed “completely false and fabricated” allegations.
“While I will forever be grateful for the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me by giving me this opportunity, I am regretfully withdrawing my nomination to be Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Jackson wrote in a statement released by the White House.
The White House said he would remain in his current job, at least for now.
“Admiral Jackson is a doctor in the United States Navy assigned to the White House and is here at work today,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Jackson served three presidents as a White House doctor but was an unorthodox pick for the VA job, which requires managing a massive federal bureaucracy. He had no previous experience in managing a large staff and had no known positions on the policy issues facing the VA.
Trump, speaking on “Fox and Friends,” blamed Jackson’s withdrawal on obstructionist Democrats angry that his pick for secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was headed for confirmation.
“He’s an admiral, highly respected and a real leader,” Trump said of Jackson. “He would have done a great job.”
“These are all false accusations, these are false, and they’re trying to destroy a man. By the way, I did say ‘Welcome to Washington, welcome to the swamp.’”
Senators in both parties, however, had decided earlier this week to indefinitely postpone a confirmation hearing for Jackson after a series of witnesses, mostly current and former military personnel, contacted congressional staff members with allegations of misconduct against Jackson.
On both sides of the political aisle, senators had also expressed concern about a lack of proper vetting of the nomination by the White House.
Trump picked Jackson after minimal consultation with his staff, and as former colleagues began to come forward in recent days with allegations of misconduct against him, White House officials seemed caught unawares.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the senior Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said this week that 23 individuals had contacted the committee with allegations against Jackson that included drunkenness on the job, poor management and over-prescribing of drugs.
Jackson has denied some of the accusations. Thursday, he issued a blanket criticism of them but did not respond to the specifics.
“Going into this process, I expected tough questions about how to best care for our veterans, but I did not expect to have to dignify baseless and anonymous attacks on my character and integrity,” he said.
“The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated,” he added. “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.”
Trump made a similar blanket denial in his “Fox & Friends” comments.
“There’s no proof of this, and he has a perfect record, he’s got this beautiful record, unblemished,” Trump said.
He added that he had a replacement candidate in mind: “somebody great … somebody with political capability.”
And he took aim at Tester, who is running for reelection this year in a state that Trump won in 2016.
“I think Jon Tester has to have a big price to pay in Montana,” he said.
Trump campaigned on improving the VA, which has faced a slew of management problems for years. But even before the misconduct allegations arose, Jackson’s lack of management experience had become an issue in the Senate.
Those concerns deepened after senators saw a 2012 inspector general’s report detailing management problems at the White House medical office. That report may have been as damaging to Jackson’s prospects among Republican senators as the more salacious allegations of drinking on the job.
The public airing of charges against Jackson could do more than derail the VA job. They could also jeopardize his current position in the military.
His case provides another high-profile example of reputation damage done to someone in Trump’s orbit. Other examples include Trump’s former press secretary, Sean Spicer, who became the butt of jokes, and Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Earlier in the week, Trump said publicly that he did not know why Jackson was putting himself through the stress of the nomination, comments that foretold Thursday’s withdrawal.
“I told Admiral Jackson just a little while ago … I said, ‘What do you need this for?’” Trump said Tuesday.
Thursday, he cited his prescience, recounting his conversation with Jackson.
“I even told him a day or two ago I saw where this is going,” Trump said.
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