Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, has referred to himself for years as a retired Navy rear admiral. This despite the fact he was demoted in 2022 after a damning report on inappropriate conduct when he was White House physician.
Although his congressional website and social profiles refer to him as a retired rear admiral, he was, in fact, demoted to captain two years after his retirement, NBC News reports, citing his service records. The demotion was in response to a Defense Department inspector general's investigation that found that Jackson belittled, bullied and made sexual remarks to subordinates; "engaged in alcohol-related misconduct, including wrecking a government vehicle while intoxicated"; and misused Ambien.
Jackson was White House physician under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. As The Washington Post reported, he formed a close friendship with Obama, who promoted him to one-star admiral in 2016.
But it was during Trump's presidency that Jackson gained public notoriety. He made dubiously effusive assessments of Trump's health in 2018 that helped endear him to the president. He praised Trump's "incredible genes" and said he believed Trump would be fit for duty for "the remainder of another term if he is elected." He also joked at the time that Trump could live to be 200 years old if he had a healthier diet.
Jackson retired from the military in 2019, two years before the inspector general's report was published. In his 2022 memoir, "Holding the Line," he suggested that the report was a political attack but he made no mention of the possibility of disciplinary action, the Post reported.
“If I had retired and not gotten into politics, this investigation would have never gone anywhere,” Jackson wrote, adding that he is "a perceived threat to the Biden administration."
Another inspector general report from this January identified "severe and systemic problems" within the White House Pharmacy Unit during Jackson's time as White House physician — including prescription medication’s being handed out to ineligible staffers — though it does not name him.
Jackson won a long-shot bid for a congressional seat in 2020 with Trump's backing, and he has been a reliable pro-Trump voice since. He has also repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's cognitive and physical health — so much so that it prompted Obama to send Jackson an email in 2020 expressing his disappointment, according to the Texas Republican's memoir.