Trump's ex-doctor demoted by Navy for inappropriate behavior in White House

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former White House physician, was demoted by the U.S. Navy following an inspector general's report that found he acted inappropriately while serving under then-president Donald Trump.

The Navy demoted the two-term congressman from a retired admiral to captain, which carries serious financial implications and a social stigma among military circles, after the Pentagon inspector general faulted him for creating a hostile work environment and drinking and taking drugs while on duty as the president's doctor, reported the Washington Post.

“The substantiated allegations in the DoDIG [Department of Defense Office of Inspector General] investigation of Rear Adm (lower half) Ronny Jackson are not in keeping with the standards the Navy requires of its leaders and, as such, the Secretary of the Navy took administrative action in July 2022,” said Lt. Cmdr. Joe Keiley, a Navy spokesperson.

Keiley declined to comment on Jackson's current rank or confirm his demotion, but the GOP congressman continues to refer to himself as a retired rear admiral, as do the former president and other Republicans.

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“While it is possible that others will mistakenly refer to him as ‘Admiral’ in perpetuity, he himself should not make that mistake,” said Katherine L. Kuzminski, a military policy expert at Center for a New American Security.

A Navy official confirmed the service branch took unspecified action against Jackson in response to the 2021 inspector general report, which found that he berated subordinates, “made sexual and denigrating statements” toward a woman who served under him, and took the sleep drug Ambien and drank alcohol with subordinates while on duty.

The annual pension payment for a retired one-star admiral, as Jackson was when he retired in December 2019, is more than $15,000 higher than what a retired captain would draw, according to Kuzminski, and that gap will likely widen over time with periodic rate increases.