Obama scolded former White House physician Ronny Jackson for 'cheap shot' tweet about Biden's cognitive health: report
14 hours ago
Former President Barack Obama. PHILIP DAVALI/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
- Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas revealed an email former President Obama sent him in 2020.
- Jackson served as the White House physician for both Obama and Trump.
- He mentions Obama's letter in a forthcoming book, Fox News reported Wednesday.
Former President Barack Obama admonished his former White House physician-turned-MAGA-politician in a previously unseen letter.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Texas Republican, revealed an email Obama sent him during the 2020 campaign in his new book, Fox News reported Wednesday. Jackson served as the White House physician for both Obama and former President Donald Trump.
Jackson told Fox News he got the stern note from Obama about 20 minutes after tweeting an attack on Biden's cognitive health, suggesting the president should be given the screener for dementia that Jackson gave Trump.
"Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump?" Jackson tweeted. "The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!"
Obama was not pleased.
"I have made a point of not commenting on your service in my successor's administration and have always spoken highly of you both in public and in private. You always served me and my family well, and I have considered you not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend," Obama wrote in the email to Jackson, according to Fox's report.
"That's why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter," Obama continued. "It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held. It was also disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration. You were the personal physician to the President of the United States as well as an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I expect better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future."
The Obama foundation did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Trump popularized the test Jackson was referring to with his "person, woman, man, camera, TV" quote in an interview with Fox News.
Jackson also gave Trump his annual physical while in office and praised the president's health, despite his weight being just a single pound below the threshold for obesity.
"The answer to your question is that he has incredibly good genes, and it's just the way God made him," Jackson told reporters when attesting to Trump's health in 2018.
Trump tapped Jackson to run the Department of Veterans Affairs that same year, but the doctor withdrew his nomination after CNN reported about his "grab and go" approach to handing out prescription pills among White House staff in the Obama administration, particularly on long trips.
Jackson was also accused of abusing White House colleagues and at times being intoxicated while at work, including at one point crashing a government vehicle while under the influence. A report by the Pentagon's inspector general last year included these allegations and others. Jackson has denied the allegations.
Jackson's book, "Holding the Line," is set for a July 26 release.
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