The White House will submit a request to the Senate this week to swiftly reschedule a confirmation hearing for Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Trump’s embattled pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We’ll be making a request to [Senate Veterans Affairs Committee] Chairman Isakson,” legislative affairs director Marc Short told reporters Wednesday. “We think he deserves his chance to have a fair hearing.”
Jackson, who was originally scheduled to appear before the Senate panel on Wednesday, is currently being investigated by Isakson and ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mt., for allegations that he improperly distributed prescription drugs and was intoxicated during work hours.
According to Tester, at least 20 people familiar with Jackson have raised concerns to the Senate about his nomination. Some of those individuals claimed he would “go down the aisle way of the airplane [on overseas White House trips] and say, ‘All right, who wants to go to sleep?’ And hand out prescription drugs like they were candy,” Tester told CNN on Tuesday.
“It was absolutely unfair to drop the ‘candyman’ line,” Short told reporters. “Every year they come in and review the White House physician’s office … and every year they said he’s holding compliance with what he’s prescribing.”
Neither Short nor White House press secretary Sarah Sanders would confirm whether Jackson himself denied the allegations during an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with Trump.
“I’m not going to go line by line on every outrageous thing out there right now, but it’s certainly disgusting,” Sanders said during a press gaggle Wednesday morning.
Asked about Trump’s own claim that his pick for VA secretary lacks experience, Sanders said, “There’s probably not a person around that has managed a department of over 300,000 and certainly [Jackson’s] a very highly qualified and highly respected person in the military and medical communities.”
Jackson declined to withdraw his nomination on Tuesday, after meeting with Trump. Nevertheless, the president has said he would be not be disappointed if his personal physician declined to move forward with the confirmation process.
“I told Adm. Jackson just a little while ago, what do you need this for?” Trump said Tuesday referring to their conversation. “This is a vicious group of people, they malign … what do you need it for?”
