White House Withdraws Jackson Nomination for VA Chief Amid Criticism

WASHINGTON — The White House withdrew the nomination of Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician, to lead the Veterans Affairs Department on Thursday after lawmakers went public with a torrent of accusations leveled against him by nearly two dozen current and former colleagues from the White House medical staff.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Jackson announced that he was withdrawing his name for consideration to be the secretary of Veteran Affairs.

“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,” Jackson said in a statement provided by the White House press office.

He said that the charges against him were “completely false and fabricated.”

Within minutes of the withdrawal, President Donald Trump lamented the loss of his nomination and said that Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, would “have a big price to pay” for undercutting Jackson.

“He’s an admiral, highly respected, a real leader,” Trump said of Jackson in a telephone call to “Fox and Friends.” “And I watched Jon Tester of Montana, a state I won by over 20 points, they love me and I love them. Jon Tester, I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state. He took a man who is an incredible man, an incredible man” and smeared him.

“These are all false accusations,” Trump said. “These are false. They’re trying to destroy a man.”

The president said he had already selected a new nominee but would not reveal the name. It will be “somebody with political capability,” he said.

But even as Jackson and the president were denying the accusations, new ones were coming in. The question Thursday was whether Jackson could continue in his role as the president’s physician, one he has filled since 2013.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement only that Jackson “is a doctor in the United States Navy assigned to the White House and is here at work today.”

The New York Times spoke with two former members of the White House medical office staff Wednesday, both of whom described a culture under Jackson where medications were freely distributed and lightly accounted for. They both said they had witnessed Jackson intoxicated during White House travel and said it was a regular occurrence while overseas.

Both of the former officials separately told of a standing order to leave a bottle of rum and Diet Coke in Jackson’s hotel room on official travel.

And both said they had been uncomfortable enough with Jackson’s behavior to file complaints at the time with the White House Military Office. Records of such complaints were not immediately verifiable. They requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Such reports have cast a negative light not only on the current White House vetting process but also on the Obama White House, which repeatedly promoted Jackson and recommended his advancement through the Navy’s highest ranks.

The White House did not immediately announce a nominee to replace Jackson. His withdrawal ensures that the department, which employs more than 370,000 people and includes vast health and benefits systems, will remain without a permanent leader for at least weeks to come.

Tester did not respond to the president’s threat but did praise the people — mostly past and current members of the military — who came forward to discuss Jackson’s issues. He did nod to the bipartisan nature of the vetting process at the Veterans’ Affairs committee and the close work he has done with its chairman, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

“I want to thank the service members who bravely spoke out over the past week,” he said in a statement. “It is my constitutional responsibility to make sure the veterans of this nation get a strong, thoroughly vetted leader who will fight for them. The next secretary must have a commitment to reform a strained health care system and a willingness to stand up to special interests who want to privatize the VA. My sleeves are rolled up and ready to work with Chairman Isakson to vet and confirm a secretary who is fit to run the VA.”

The concerns raised on Capitol Hill over Jackson’s nomination were bipartisan and emerged after the Veterans’ Affairs committee interviewed more than 23 people, including current and former military personnel, who had worked alongside him. The accusations included a hostile work environment, the improper dispensing of prescription drugs to White House staff and reporters during official travel, and intoxication while traveling with the president.

The White House had initially moved to defend Jackson against what officials there called “ugly” abuse and false accusations. And he indicated repeatedly in interactions with reporters that he intended to stay the course. But the nomination was clearly in peril when the top senators on the committee announced Tuesday that they would postpone a confirmation hearing for Jackson scheduled for the next day, pending further investigation.

On Wednesday, the committee’s Democratic staff released a two-page document fleshing out the accusations. They were explosive.

In one instance, Jackson stood accused of providing such “a large supply” of Percocet, a prescription opioid, to a White House Military Office staff member that he threw his own medical staff “into a panic” when it could not account for the missing drugs, the document said.

In another case, at a Secret Service goodbye party, the doctor got intoxicated and “wrecked a government vehicle.”

And a nurse on his staff said that Jackson had written himself prescriptions, and when caught, had simply asked a physician assistant to provide him with the medication.

An aide to Tester said each of the allegations included in the document was based on information provided by two or more individuals.

Trump nominated Jackson to the position in March after firing his first Veterans Affairs secretary, David J. Shulkin, an experienced hospital administrator and veteran of the department’s medical system. The decision was largely made out of a personal affinity for Jackson, who did not undergo the kind of policy vetting that usually accompanies a nomination to a cabinet post.

Trump had strongly defended Jackson on Tuesday as “one of the finest people that I have met,” but he also suggested that Jackson might soon withdraw from consideration, amid what the president characterized as partisan attacks from Capitol Hill.

“I don’t want to put a man through a process like this,” Trump said. “The fact is, I wouldn’t do it. What does he need it for?”

Sanders said Wednesday that Jackson had been through at four background checks, including by the FBI, during his time at the White House. She said that none had turned up areas for concern.

But even before the accusations about his conduct became public, Jackson was expected to face tough questioning from senators from both parties skeptical of his inexperience managing a large bureaucracy and of his views on key policy debates gripping the department. The Veterans Affairs Department is the federal government’s second largest, and Jackson had little to no experience with policy or leading a large staff.

Isakson, who had backed Tester’s decision to investigate, said Thursday morning that it was the White House’s decision to make, and that he would work to confirm a new secretary once nominated.

“I respect his decision, and I thank Adm. Jackson for his service to the country,” Isakson said. “I will work with the administration to see to it we get a VA secretary for our veterans and their families.”