Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, a former White House physician, announced Wednesday that the Navy has restored his retired rank of rear admiral, overturning a 2022 demotion that followed a scathing investigation into his behavior during his time at the White House.
Jackson posted a June 13 letter from Navy Secretary John Phelan saying he had reinstated Jackson to the retired rank of a one-star admiral following a “review of all applicable reports and references.”
The Navy confirmed the move to CBS News. A spokesperson for Phelan said he “greatly appreciates Congressman Jackson’s decades of distinguished naval service, and values his continued support to the United States Naval Academy as a member of the Board of Visitors.”
Following his 2019 retirement from the Navy, Jackson was retroactively demoted after a yearslong investigation into his behavior. A report by the Pentagon’s inspector general found that he made “sexual and denigrating” comments about a female subordinate, violated the policy on drinking alcohol on a presidential trip, and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care. Jackson has denied the allegations and claimed he was subject to a “political hit job.”
Jackson served in the White House Medical Unit during the Bush, Obama and first Trump administrations. While he served as White House physician to both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Jackson garnered the most public attention for his statements about Mr. Trump’s health during his first term. In one 2018 press briefing following Mr. Trump’s physical, Jackson said the president “has incredibly good genes.”
“I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old,” he said at the time.
Mr. Trump later nominated Jackson to serve as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he withdrew from the process and later worked as Mr. Trump’s chief medical adviser. Jackson was elected to Congress in 2020.
On Wednesday, Jackson posted to X: “I was, and still am, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and Joe Biden is a retired old FOOL.”
The decision to restore Jackson’s rank comes as the Pentagon is becoming increasingly transparent in offering benefits and consideration to Mr. Trump’s supporters.
Last week, military officials revealed that Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed by an officer in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, would be offered military funeral honors. A U.S. Air Force veteran from California, Babbitt was shot and killed wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders while trying to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has considered expediting the process to reinstate former service members who were discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, sources told CBS News last week.
At the same time, those who are seen as disloyal have been punished. Two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who oversaw the intelligence agency that produced an initial intelligence assessment of U.S. damage to Iranian nuclear sites that angered Trump.
