WASHINGTON – Ronny Jackson, a Navy rear admiral whom President Donald Trump unsuccessfully nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, will not return to his previous role as the president's personal physician, a White House official said Sunday.
Jackson, who withdraw as Trump's VA pick last week, will remain on as part of the White House medical unit, the official added. Sean Conley, a Navy veteran who took over Jackson's responsibilities after his nomination, will remain in the role as Trump's personal doctor.
Jackson, a former combat physician who faced criticism almost immediately that he was not qualified to oversee VA, withdrew his nomination Thursday, after the office of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., released allegations against Jackson that he drank on the job, overprescribed medication and presided over a toxic work environment.
Jackson's new role was first reported by Politico.
Jackson has denied the allegations against him, which have proved difficult to verify or disprove. Tester's staff has yet to release documentation supporting the accusations, and a Secret Service statement on Friday said the agency had found to evidence to support one of the specific allegations.
On Saturday, Trump called on Tester to resign. In a tweet, the president declared the allegations Jackson "not true."
"There were no such findings," Trump tweeted. "A horrible thing that we in D.C. must live with, just like phony Russian Collusion. Tester should lose race in Montana. Very dishonest and sick!"
Tester is facing a tough Senate reelection campaign ahead of November's midterms, and the president made clear that he hopes to use the Jackson incident against Tester in the race.
"I know things about Tester that I can say, too," Trump said later Saturday at a campaign-style rally in Michigan. "And if I said them, he'd never be elected again."