Ronny Jackson

Ronny Jackson is the U.S. representative for Texas’s 13th congressional district and was President Trump’s Chief Medical Advisor. In 2018, Jackson withdrew as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs following allegations of significant misconduct during his prior White House service. In 2021, an investigation into Jackson by the U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General substantiated allegations of Jackson’s inappropriate behavior and conduct while serving as an admiral and as White House physician. In 2022, the Navy retroactively demoted Jackson from rear admiral (lower half) to the rank of captain. Jackson, who voted to overturn the election results during the certification of the 2020 election, remains one of Donald Trump’s most loyal allies on Capitol Hill and a regular mouthpiece for Trump’s misinformation and extreme policies.

Jackson began his service in the Trump administration as Physician to the President, a role he held under President Barack Obama. Jackson reportedly became a favorite of Trump after delivering an hour-long press conference on the strength of Trump’s health, praising Trump’s “incredibly good genes” and his performance on a cognitive test (“exceedingly well”)—a press conference Jackson was criticized for, including for misstating Trump’s height and weight.

In March 2018, Trump announced his intent to nominate Jackson as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but one month later the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs postponed the hearing after current and former White House medical staff accused him of inappropriate behavior. Jackson withdrew himself from consideration one month later, after the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs began formally investigating the allegations. Jackson returned to work in the White House Medical Unit but did not return to his position as Trump’s personal physician.

In May 2018, after receiving 12 separate complaints, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened an investigation into Jackson’s conduct. In March 2021, the OIG issued its report, which concluded “by a preponderance of the evidence” the following:

– “Jackson’s overall course of conduct toward subordinates disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated them, and fostered a negative work environment by failing to treat subordinates with dignity and respect.”

– “Jackson engaged in inappropriate conduct involving the use of alcohol during two incidents. Both incidents occurred during presidential trips while [RDML] Jackson was in charge of providing medical care and treatment to U.S. Government officials-a trip to Manila, Philippines, in April 2014 and a trip to Bariloche, Argentina, in March 2016.”

– “Jackson made sexual and denigrating statements about one of his female medical subordinates to another of his subordinates.”…“Specifically, he said that his female subordinate had “great ts” and “a nice a” and he would “like to see more of her tattoos.”

– “Jackson took Ambien during official travel, raising concerns about his potential incapacity to provide proper medical care during this travel.”

Jackson held the Navy rank of captain from 2010 to 2016, when he was promoted to rear admiral (lower half), a one-star rank. In March 2018, he was nominated by President Trump for promotion to the two-star rank of rear admiral, but the Senate Committee on Armed Services returned the nomination to the president in January 2019 without action. He was renominated by Trump two weeks later, but it was again returned to the president without action. Jackson retired from the Navy in December 2019. Following the release of the OIG’s report, the Navy demoted Jackson from rear admiral (lower half) to captain for actions “not in keeping with the standards the Navy requires of its leaders” in July 2022—an action that did not come to light until 2024. To this day, despite the demotion, Jackson continues to claim the title of admiral.

In December 2019, Jackson filed to run for Congress in Texas’ 13th congressional district and campaigned based on his close relationship with Donald Trump. During the campaign, in May 2020, Jackson claimed without evidence that “President Obama weaponized the highest levels of our government to spy on President Trump” and that “every Deep State traitor deserved to be brought to justice for their heinous actions.” During that year, as the death toll from Covid-19 rose and public health officials urged people to wear a mask to limit transmission, Jackson claimed that wearing a mask during COVID-19 was a personal choice. After winning the run-off primary, Jackson went on to win the general election.

During the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, Jackson was inside the Capitol when members of the Oath Keepers militia exchanged text messages about protecting Jackson, claiming he had “critical data.” Oathkeeper leader Stewart Rhodes replied, writing: “Give him my cell”. Rhodes was later charged with seditious conspiracy, convicted, and sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. Text messages reveal that Oath Keepers also sought to protect other Trump allies involved in efforts to overturn the election results, including Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, and Michael Flynn. Later in the day on January 6, 2021, during the certification of the 2020 election, Jackson voted to overturn the election results.

Since the start of his Congressional tenure, Jackson has:

– Voted against the formation of January 6 commission intended to investigate the storming of the Capitol, a commission he called illegitimate after the committee requested Jackson meet with the Congressmembers running the investigation.

– Missed House votes and voted by proxy by reason of “ongoing public health emergency” when he was attending the Conservative Political Action Conference.

– Voted against establishing Juneteenth (June 19) a federal holiday.

– Promoted a conspiracy theory that Democrats made up the COVID-19 Omicron variant, calling it the “MEV - the Midterm Election Variant,” as “a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots” and to “cheat” in the upcoming midterm elections.

– Falsely claimed that California Representative Katie Porter had asserted that “pedophilia is not a crime” but “an identity,” referring to a deceptively edited video from a hearing.

– Voted against the 2022 PACT ACT, which expanded VA benefits to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during their military service.

– Become the subject of an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation, which concluded that “there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Jackson converted [and misused] campaign funds from Texans for Ronny Jackson to personal use or that Rep. Jackson’s campaign committee expended funds that were not attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes.”

In July 2023, Jackson was briefly detained by law enforcement in White Deer, Texas, during a rodeo. Video of the incident provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety showed that Jackson tried to help a teenager suffering from a medical emergency. After a trooper requested that he step back to allow paramedics to help her, Jackson did not move back, argued with the officers, and was handcuffed.