Barack Obama sent his former White House physician a 'scathing' email accusing him of betrayal when he suggested President Joe ...
Barack Obama sent his former White House physician a 'scathing' email accusing him of betrayal when he suggested President Joe Biden may not be mentally fit for office, Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas revealed.
'He just tore me up,' the doctor-turned-lawmaker said on an episode of Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks' podcast earlier this month, days before a devastating new poll revealed that more than half of Americans have similar reservations about the oldest man ever to be sworn in to the Oval Office.
Jackson, a retired Real Admiral in the US Navy, served in the White House medical unit since the mid 2000s and held the top spot of Physician to the President under both Obama and Donald Trump.
The veteran emerged as a vehement Trump supporter during the Republican's White House tenure after years of apolitical ambiguity. As Trump's chief doctor he gave the 75-year-old a glowing bill of health, despite his well-documented disdain for exercise except golf and penchant for fast food.
With the ex-president's backing he took office in Congress earlier this year. Since he left his White House medical post he's been a vocal critic of Biden's cognitive and physical health.
On one of the occasions, Jackson claimed, he was met with a swift and verbose rebuke from Biden's former boss.
'An entire page about how disappointed he was in me, and how it’s beneath me as a physician and beneath me as an officer in the military to be attacking Joe Biden like this,' Jackson said.
'And it was a betrayal of the trust that he and his administration had put in me and he was so disappointed in me and yada, yada, and he hoped that I would do a better job in the future.'
Jackson said he had a good working relationship with Obama but that the former president excoriated him for doubting Biden's mental ability
Jackson said the experience was 'unbelievable,' though he also spoke favorably of the Democrat's 'good personality.'
It was in reference to a February 2020 Twitter post that Jackson made when he was still campaigning for Congress. At a campaign stop, then-presidential candidate Biden mistakenly said he was running for US Senate.
'Remember the cognitive test I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!' Jackson had tweeted.
It appears that a broad swath of US voters may think so as well. A recent Issues & Insights poll showed that just 42 percent of American adults think Biden is 'mentally sharp.'
Biden and his fitness for the job have been scrutinized by critics, including Trump, while his dropping poll numbers have put pressure on his administration and mounting crises he faces.
He hasn't released a medical report since 2019 and Jen Psaki has deflected questions about his health and coughing during speeches.
The president was also widely mocked earlier this month when he appeared to doze off during an event at the COP26 climate summit.
President Biden's whirlwind European tour appears to be catching up with him, as the 78-year-old was caught resting his eyes during the opening remarks of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow
The president looked to be dozing off as one speaker underscored the importance of taking action to save the climate
He opened his eyes and appeared to liven up when an aide walked up to him to chat
Pictured is the Twitter post that the ex-Democratic president allegedly took issue with
Jackson was promoted to Physician to the President by Obama, who also moved his military rank up to admiral
Jackson became a staunch supporter of Trump's when he took office, even defending him in a now-famous press conference about his mental and physical health that lasted more than an hour
Jackson complained Obama's reaction was emblematic of Democrats' and the mainstream media's political double-standard.
While headlines will occasionally question the 78-year-old commander-in-chief's mental acuity, it's dwarfed by the number of media reports and on-camera experts who lined up to question Trump's grip when he was in office.
Jackson said of Trump, 'They were trying to get rid of him before he was even sworn in.'
'They tried everything they could to undermine him and to get him out of office, and eventually they turned to well like, "He's not physically fit, or he's not cognitively fit to be our president," right.'
The Texas lawmaker accused the media of attacking Trump's mental health 'because they didn't like his style.'
He said he suggested Trump take a cognitive test as part of his regular physical to silence critics.
After the test Jackson gave a now-well known press conference in the White House briefing room in which he touted Trump's 'incredible genes' and said 'there is no question he is in excellent range' when it comes to his cardiac health.
'He has incredibly good genes, and it’s just the way God made him,' Jackson said at the 2018 press conference. '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 had also said Trump had a perfect score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a 30-question test normally used to detect mild impairment and dementia.
In Banks' podcast Jackson recounted his experience, comparing the health reporters in the room to 'assassins.'
'That was the day that the press decided if they could ever cut my heart out, they would do it,' he said.
He revealed that Trump directed him shortly beforehand to 'stay out there until they don't have any more questions.'
His outlook for Biden was notably bleaker - though he never served the 78-year-old in a medical capacity.
'He's got age-related cognitive decline,' Jackson said bluntly. 'He is not mentally fit right now. He’s 78 years old and you can see it. You don’t need to be a physician to look at him and to look at his behavior and some of the other stuff, just the way he shuffles away, the way he stares off into space.'
Since he was sworn into Congress Jackson questioned Biden's cognitive ability a number of times.
'Biden has COMPLETELY lost it. Totally mentally incompetent. He needs to RESIGN. This is EMBARRASSING,' he tweeted in late October along with a video of Biden appearing to forget the name of the Port of Long Beach, one of the largest in the US.
In March he wrote, 'I served as White House physician under THREE Presidents. I’ve seen what it takes physically AND mentally to do the job. I can tell you right now that the way Biden is hiding from the public is a MAJOR red flag. Something’s not right!'
He and 13 other House Republicans wrote Biden a letter in June demanding that he sit for a cognitive test.
Before getting to Congress Jackson was Trump's pick to succeed David Shulkin as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
'He is not mentally fit right now. He’s 78 years old and you can see it,' Jackson said of Biden on Rep. Jim Banks' podcast
But his nomination was derailed when reports emerged accusing Jackson of misconduct with employees and abusing sleeping tablets and alcohol.
He defended himself on Banks' podcast, claiming he got 'Kavanaugh'd before Kavanaugh did.'
'That was because I've got the Trump stamp on me,' he said.
It's also the second time the Obama administration labeled the doctor's actions a 'betrayal.'
In May 2020 Jackson released a pro-Trump statement that accused Obama of being a 'deep state traitor' who 'deserves to be brought to justice for their heinous actions.'
That shriveled what goodwill was left between Obama and his former physician, officials told the Washington Post at the time.
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