White House physician Ronny Jackson will not return to his role as the president’s personal physician, according to two senior administration officials, after a string of allegations caused the Navy rear admiral to withdraw his nomination last week to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sean Conley, a Navy officer who took over Jackson’s role as the president’s personal doctor last month, will continue in the role, the officials said.
Jackson bowed out last week after Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released a document summarizing allegations by current and former colleagues that Jackson overprescribed pills, drank on the job and created a hostile work environment. Jackson has denied the allegations and has returned to work in the White House Medical Unit.
President Donald Trump has continued defending Jackson, with whom he formed a tight personal bond.
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Jackson made a splash earlier this year when he held an extended news conference on Trump’s physical in which he claimed the president was one pound under the weight that would be considered obese and said that Trump has “great genes.”
Trump’s decision to elevate Jackson to his Cabinet after dismissing former VA Secretary David Shulkin nonetheless took even senior-most White House aides by surprise. The president announced the move before the White House had a chance to do the sort of thorough vetting typically performed on Cabinet-level nominees.
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Even before the Tester allegations surfaced, Republican and Democratic senators had voiced concern about the nomination because Jackson had no experience running an organization as complex as the VA — the second-largest federal agency, behind the military.
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Ronny Jackson out at Trump’s personal physician. His replacement, Navy officer, Sean Conley, has started – https://t.co/oHwLM5T98u
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) April 29, 2018
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