Ex-White House doctor Ronny Jackson has been elected to Congress. The retired Rear Navy Admiral and Republican, 53, who once claimed that...
Ex-White House doctor Ronny Jackson has been elected to Congress.
The retired Rear Navy Admiral and Republican, 53, who once claimed that Donald Trump would live to 200 years old after examining him, won the race for Texas's 13th congressional district this evening.
He won 78 per cent of the vote, trouncing Democrat rival Gus Trujillo.
Jackson worked as Physician to the President under both Barack Obama and Trump and also worked in the White House medical unit in the George W. Bush administration.
His medical expertise was called into question back in 2018 when, after carrying out Trump's physical exam, he claimed the president was in 'excellent health'.
'It is called genetics,' Jackson said. 'Some people have just great 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.'
His positive outlook came despite test results indicating the president had a type of heart disease, worsening cholesterol and coronary calcium levels, and was obese.
Ronny Jackson, Donald Trump's former physician, won the race for Texas's 13th congressional district this evening
Ex-White House physician Ronny Jackson once claimed that Donald Trump would live to 200 years old after examining him
Jackson's professionalism was also criticized that year when several colleagues came forward saying he was often drunk on duty, was nicknamed the 'candyman' because of the way he handed out drugs and that he once hammered on the hotel door of a female colleague's room late at night while drunk.
In one alleged incident, Jackson reportedly got so drunk at a Secret Service party that he got behind the wheel of a government car and crashed it.
Jackson denied the accusations calling them 'baseless' but the scandal led him to stand down as Trump's nominee as the Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The newly-elected Congressman hit the headlines last month when he blasted Joe Biden and claimed that he does not have the 'mental capacity' or 'cognitive ability' to run the country.
The Republican said he was 'concerned' about Biden's mental capacity to be president.
He said: 'As a citizen, not as a candidate running for Congress, but as a citizen of this country, I've watched Joe Biden on the campaign trail and I am concerned and convinced that he does not have the mental capacity, the cognitive ability, to serve as our commander-in-chief and our head of state.'
Jackson said he wasn't going to 'diagnose' the Democrat of having dementia or any other condition.
'I'm not trying to remotely diagnose him with anything,' he said.
'I've not accused him of having Alzheimer's or anything of that nature.'
A Texas native, Jackson attended Texas A&M for undergraduate, and received his medical degree from the University of Texas' Medical Branch, graduating in 1995.
Trump and Jackson in the White House in 2017. Jackson served as White House Physician for Obama and Trump until 2018 but did not provide care to Biden when he was Vice President
That same year, Jackson began his active duty Naval service in Portsmouth, Virginia. He completed a number of medical internships and became the honor graduate of the Navy's Undersea Medical Officer Program, before completing his residency at the top of his class in 2004.
The next year, he became part of Operation Iraqi Freedom as an emergency medicine physician in charge of resuscitative medicine.
Jackson was promoted to a White House physician while still deployed in Iraq in 2006. He's served in three administrations - those of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump - and held a variety of positions, including the physician supervisor for Camp David, before being promoted to physician to the president under Obama in 2013.
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