{"id":64097,"date":"2018-04-26T04:45:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T04:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=64097"},"modified":"2018-04-26T04:45:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T04:45:56","slug":"new-allegations-emerge-against-ronny-jackson-as-white-house-digs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/new-allegations-emerge-against-ronny-jackson-as-white-house-digs-in.html","title":{"rendered":"New Allegations Emerge Against Ronny Jackson as White House Digs In"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Allegations Emerge Against Ronny Jackson as White House Digs In<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician nominated to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, provided such \u201ca large supply\u201d of Percocet, a prescription opioid, to a White House Military Office staff member that he threw his own medical staff \u201cinto a panic\u201d when it could not account for the missing drugs, according to a summary of questionable deeds compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

A nurse on his staff said Dr. Jackson had written himself prescriptions, and when caught, he simply asked a physician assistant to provide him with the medication.<\/span><\/p>\n

And at a Secret Service going away party, the doctor got intoxicated and \u201cwrecked a government vehicle,\u201d according to the summary.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two-page document, distributed by committee Democrats, fleshes out three categories of accusations \u2014 prescription drug misuse, hostile work environment and drunkenness \u2014 that threaten to derail President Trump\u2019s nominee. Committee staff members say the summary details the testimony of 23 current and former colleagues of Dr. Jackson, many of whom are still in the military.<\/span><\/p>\n

An aide to Senator Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the committee, said each allegation included in the document was based on information provided by two or more individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new details came as White House officials on Wednesday ratcheted up their public defense of Dr. Jackson, calling the charges of workplace misconduct \u201coutrageous,\u201d even as new episodes of questionable conduct surfaced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Jackson told reporters at the White House that he had \u201cno idea where that is coming from\u201d but categorically denied the car accident. \u201cI have not wrecked a car. I can tell you that,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwe\u2019re still moving ahead as planned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters earlier Wednesday afternoon that Dr. Jackson had been the subject of at least four background investigations, including by the F.B.I., during his time at the White House, which dates to 2006. None, she said, had turned up areas for concern, and Dr. Jackson had drawn praise from colleagues and presidents in each administration he worked for.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those things have come up in the four separate background investigations that have taken place,\u201d she said, referring to the recent allegations. \u201cThere\u2019s been no area of concern that was raised for Dr. Jackson specifically.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But when pressed, Ms. Sanders said she could not comment on the credibility of specific charges.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are new,\u201d she said. \u201cI can only speak to some of the personal accounts that those of us have, as well as the records that we have that are substantiated through a very detailed and thorough background investigation process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Among those new charges she did not address: During an overseas trip by the Obama administration in 2015, Dr. Jackson went out drinking, came back to the delegation\u2019s hotel and began banging on the door of a staff member\u2019s hotel room, according to an account shared with Mr. Tester. The noise was so loud that members of the Secret Service came to see what was happening and warned Dr. Jackson to be quiet so he would not wake the president, who was staying nearby.<\/span><\/p>\n

The episode was first reported by CNN.<\/span><\/p>\n

On another trip during Barack Obama\u2019s presidency, White House staff members reached out to Dr. Jackson for medical reasons but found him passed out in his hotel room after a night of drinking, Tester aides said. The staff members took the medical supplies they were looking for without waking Dr. Jackson.<\/span><\/p>\n

The document prepared by the Democratic staff of the Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee paints a picture of a medical office that was casual with the prescribing and distribution of drugs but terrorized by a mercurial boss, quick to anger. According to the summary, interviewed staff members described Dr. Jackson as \u201cthe most unethical person I have ever worked with,\u201d \u201cflat-out unethical\u201d and \u201cincapable of not losing his temper,\u201d among other charges.<\/span><\/p>\n

The document includes allegations that Dr. Jackson regularly distributed Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, to members of the White House staff and members of the news media flying on long overseas trips, as well as another prescription drug to promote wakefulness.<\/span><\/p>\n

It says that the committee was told that physicians working with Dr. Jackson \u201cfelt uncomfortable and refused to be a part of the loose dispensing of drugs to current and former\u201d White House staff members. It also states that Dr. Jackson \u201calso had private stocks of controlled substances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The document says that the panel received testimony that the White House medical unit \u201chad questionable record keeping for pharmaceuticals\u201d and that the committee was told that Dr. Jackson would often account for pills only after distributing them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the committee continue to investigate the claims. But by Wednesday evening, the tone had shifted in the Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see no realistic path forward for this nomination,\u201d said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and a member of the committee. \u201cHe cannot lead this agency dragging all that baggage into the V.A. \u2014 even if he could have compensated for his lack of experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans were not ready to defend him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think what the committee is doing right now is the proper due diligence, and it\u2019s both Republicans and Democrats,\u201d said Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Jackson had been scheduled to testify before the Senate panel on Wednesday, but its top Republican and Democrat announced on Tuesday that the session would be postponed to allow more time to investigate the claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the allegations about the Percocet emerged, Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the committee\u2019s chairman, said that he intended to hold a confirmation hearing for Dr. Jackson, but would first need to receive documents that he and Mr. Tester requested on Dr. Jackson\u2019s time at the White House. To speculate on the nominee\u2019s fate before then, he said, would be unfair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe deserves a hearing, and he\u2019s going to get it,\u201d Mr. Isakson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

An aide to Mr. Tester said on Wednesday that other former colleagues of Dr. Jackson had reached out to the committee to share stories since details of its investigation became public.<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House\u2019s pushback \u2014 both in public and behind the scenes \u2014 was targeted toward the general allegations and not specific episodes, many of which appear to have occurred during the Obama administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marc Short, the White House\u2019s legislative affairs director, told reporters that the White House would be requesting a confirmation hearing. Dr. Jackson told reporters in brief comments on Tuesday that he was looking forward to testifying to respond to the charges against him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Short pushed back against assertions that Dr. Jackson had casually doled out prescription drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year they come in and they do a review of the White House physician\u2019s office on things like prescriptions,\u201d Mr. Short told reporters. \u201cAnd every year, they\u2019ve said that he\u2019s totally in compliance with what he\u2019s been prescribing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Capitol Hill, some Republican senators worried that Dr. Jackson was being asked to account for anonymous accusations that had not yet been fully vetted. Others were still awaiting access to the more detailed charges collected by Mr. Tester and others on the Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to hound somebody out just because somebody can make an accusation strikes me as unfair,\u201d Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, said before the Democratic memo emerged.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Cornyn defended Dr. Jackson\u2019s reported distribution of Ambien and other drugs during long trips as nothing out of the ordinary. He said that because Dr. Jackson was a doctor, it was not a problem that he distributed the drugs, even without writing a prescription.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn overseas travel, yeah, sure, people take Ambien to help them transition through time zones,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty common, I\u2019m led to believe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/25\/us\/politics\/ronny-jackson-veterans-affairs-nomination.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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