President Trump issued a warning shot against Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., for derailing his pick of White House doctor Ronny Jackson as secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I know things about Tester that I could say too,” Trump said during a rally in Michigan. “And if I said them he’d never be elected again.”
Tester, who is up for re-election in November, shared stories from anonymous sources who claimed Jackson had a drinking problem was not judicious in prescribing sleep medication or opioid painkillers.
The Secret Service has said publicly that it has no record of one of the incidents shared with reporters, in which Jackson allegedly banged on the door of a female employee in the middle of the night while drunk. The reports, from anonymous sources, said that the Secret Service had to intervene so that Jackson wouldn’t awaken former President Barack Obama.
During his rally, Trump said that the Secret Service told him on his way into the rally that they had “check out all of those things” and had found the allegations to be false.
“We need to vote against guys like Jon tester that can destroy a man with innuendo,” he said. “And we have to be careful with the press because they do the same damn thing.”
Trump called Jackson “a gentleman who is a truly high quality human being” and noted that both Obama and former President George W. Bush, both of whom Jackson served under, had praised his service.
“But what Jon Tester did to this man is a disgrace,” Trump said. Earlier in the day on Twitter the president had also called for Tester to resign his Senate seat.
Trump tapped Jackson after firing his predecessor, David Shulkin. Jackson’s nomination drew concern from both Democrats and Republicans because of his lack of experience running a large agency.
Jackson has also denied the allegations but ultimately withdrew his name from consideration.
“Going into this process, I expected tough questions about how to best care for our veterans, but I did not expect to have to dignify baseless and anonymous attacks on my character and dignity,” Jackson said.
