Jackson described the allegations against him as “false and fabricated.”

Dr. Ronny Jackson has withdrawn his name from consideration to lead the Veterans Affairs Department after days of allegations of inappropriate behavior since 2006.

*This is breaking news. Will update as more information comes out.

The Associated Press reported that Jackson called the allegations “false and fabricated.”

Here is Jackson’s full statement:

Full statement from Dr. Ronny Jackson on his decision to withdraw his nomination: pic.twitter.com/QJ0wE7KDm9 — Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) April 26, 2018

President Donald Trump joined Fox & Friends this morning:

President @realDonaldTrump reacts to Dr. Ronny Jackson withdrawing his nomination to be VA Secretary pic.twitter.com/SzRCaBCKIA — FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) April 26, 2018

It looks like Jackson is still at the White House:

White House @PressSec says Dr. Jackson remains on duty as White House physician, at least today. "Admiral Jackson is a doctor in the United States Navy assigned to the White House and is here at work today,” she says in statement. — Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 26, 2018

On Wednesday, The New York Times published an article that contained a summary of allegations against Jackson from 23 former and current colleagues. What got me is that these stem back to 2006 and yet former President Barack Obama and Trump kept him as White House physician:

During an overseas trip by the Obama administration in 2015, Dr. Jackson went out drinking, came back to the delegation’s hotel and began banging on the door of a staff member’s hotel room, according to an account shared with Mr. Tester. The noise was so loud that members of the Secret Service came to see what was happening and warned Dr. Jackson to be quiet so he would not wake the president, who was staying nearby. The episode was first reported by CNN. On another trip during Barack Obama’s presidency, White House staff members reached out to Dr. Jackson for medical reasons but found him passed out in his hotel room after a night of drinking, Tester aides said. The staff members took the medical supplies they were looking for without waking Dr. Jackson.

A former colleague told the Associated Press that Jackson had the nickname “Candyman” because of the way he distributed medications:

The “Candyman” nickname was also cited in the summary released by the Democrats. In a section on Jackson’s prescribing practices, the summary said that in one case, missing Percocet tabs threw members of the White House Medical Unit into a panic — but it turned out he had prescribed a “large supply” of the opioid to a White House Military Office staffer.



