President Trump tore into Democratic Sen. Jon Tester on Friday for his public comments about White House physician Ronny Jackson, who withdrew his nomination for Veterans Affairs secretary a day earlier due to allegations of misconduct.
“The false accusations that were made against [Jackson] from Senator Tester — from a great state — I don’t think that state is going to put up with him much longer,” Trump said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart.
“To say the kind of things that he said … calling him names, [that] was, to me, a disgrace,” the president said. “An absolute disgrace.”
The ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee revealed earlier this week that 20 military officials filed complaints with the Senate panel over Jackson’s nomination, accusing him of excessive drinking on the job and recklessly distributing prescription drugs. Tester later told reporters that Jackson had given sleeping pills to White House aides “like candy” in his role as a presidential physician during previous administrations.
Trump, who met with Jackson on Tuesday to discuss the allegations, called the Navy doctor “an American hero [who] has been treated very unfairly.”
“I explained what happened. I explained that Washington can be a very mean place,” Trump told reporters, referring to a conversation he and Jackson had after his nomination collapses.
Tester is running for reelection in Montana this year, making him one of ten Democratic senators seeking another term in a state Trump won in 2016.
