Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., says a recent report validates some of the allegations against Ronny Jackson, who withdrew his nomination for Veterans Affairs secretary. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Johnny Isakson on Tuesday further defended ranking member Jon Tester and others who had discussed allegations against Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the former nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary.
The Georgia Republican’s latest remarks came as the National Republican Senatorial Committee has continued to hammer Tester, a Montana Democrat, over the release of information about allegations against Jackson received by senators and committee staff.
President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign rally Saturday night in Washington, Mich. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Historians and analysts say President Donald Trump’s call for a sitting United States senator to resign over a dispute about a nominee is unprecedented — yet, White House officials are mum about the provocative move.
Two days after Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, withdrew his nomination to be Veterans Affairs secretary due in part to allegations from whistleblowers released by Sen. Jon Tester’s office, Trump used a Saturday morning tweet to demand the Montana Democrat leave office. Later that night, he threatened Tester with information he said would end the senator’s political career.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., attends a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Nov. 1. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
President Donald Trump escalated his feud with Democratic Sen. Jon Tester on Saturday morning, using a tweet to call for the Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member to resign.
The Montana senator on Wednesday made public allegations from whistleblowers against Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s military physician and nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, that helped him decide to step aside.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Democrats released a summary of allegations against Veterans Affairs secretary nominee Ronny Jackson on Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
President Donald Trump unleashed his wrath on Montana Sen. Jon Tester Thursday for leading the charge against Ronny Jackson, the president’s pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Jackson, who has served as the president’s personal physician since George W. Bush was in office and is a rear admiral in the Navy, withdrew his name from consideration for the VA post amid allegations compiled by Democrats on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that he had been drunk on the job on multiple occasions and had garnered the nickname “Candyman” for his excessive prescribing practices.
Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary, leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Tuesday after a meeting with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Updated 6:55 p.m. | President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his Veterans Affairs nominee, Ronny Jackson amid allegations of drinking on the job and creating a hostile work environment even as he opened the door for his White House doctor to withdraw his nomination.
“I’ll always stand behind him,” the president said.
Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, nominee for Veterans Affairs secretary, leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building after a meeting with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., on Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will delay confirmation hearings for Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, after allegations rose from his past.
An aide with ranking Democrat Jon Tester confirmed to Roll Call that hearings were delayed after Chairman Johnny Isakson told the Washington Post and CNN.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wants to know why “significant agency resources are being devoted to administrator [Scott] Pruitt’s ’round-the-clock security, even when he is traveling on non-official business.” (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has used EPA-funded security for personal trips, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wrote in a letter to the agency’s inspector general.
Pruitt took his security detail with him to his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma; a family vacation at Disneyland in California; and the 2018 Rose Bowl game, Whitehouse wrote in the letter obtained by CNN.
A constituent of Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, R-N.J., was indicted for threatening the congressman and his staffers. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A veteran who was unhappy with his health care was indicted on Wednesday after threatening to kill New Jersey Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo.
Joseph Brodie of Millville, New Jersey, was indicted for threatening LoBiondo and two staff members after making a “series of demands,” USA Today reported.
President Donald Trump's doctor Ronny Jackson speaks during a White House press briefing on Jan. 16. Jackson gave Trump a glowing health assessment that day and now is his expected nominee to take over as VA secretary. (Alex Wong/Getty Images file photo)
Ousted Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin on Friday would not say Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s military doctor and pick to replace him, is qualified for the position.
Shulkin said Jackson, a Navy rear admiral who has no command or management experience, has the “right values” to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. But during an interview on MSNBC he stopped short of calling Jackson qualified to bring about the reforms needed to repair the agency and improve military veterans’ care.
Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, seen here at a January press briefing, is President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace David Shulkin as Veterans Affairs secretary. (Alex Wong/Getty Images file photo)
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening on Twitter that he has fired embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and will nominate his military physician, Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, to replace him.
Jackson is a rear admiral in the Navy, and has appeared at the White House briefing room podium in his uniform. He gave Trump a clean bill of health after his latest physical. He also was the military physician for former President Barack Obama and served in the 2003 Iraq War as an emergency medicine physician.
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