VA nominee's withdrawal

Trump: Tester has a 'big price to pay' over VA nominee's withdrawal

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Sen. Jon Tester should “have a big price to pay” with voters this November for his role in the controversy surrounding Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the president’s pick to be the secretary of veterans affairs who withdrew his nomination.

Tester (D-Mont.), the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, played a key role this week as allegations against Jackson came to light, detailing them in multiple interviews.

“I watch what Jon Tester, of Montana — a state that I won by, like, over 20 points, you know, really, they love me and I love them. And I want to tell you that Jon Tester, I think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in his state,” Trump told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning.

Jackson withdrew from consideration earlier Thursday amid allegations of misconduct that included drunkenness on duty, inappropriate practices with prescription medicine and creating a hostile work environment. The Navy physician, who has served as a personal doctor to three presidents, has denied the allegations against him.

Trump’s attack against Tester come in advance of November’s midterm elections, where the Montana senator is expected to be among the most endangered Democratic incumbents running for reelection. The president predicted that Montana voters would punish Tester for his role in Jackson’s fall because “the admiral is the kind of person that they respect and admire. And they don't like seeing what's happened to him.”

“These are all false accusations that were made. These are false – they’re trying to destroy a man. By the way I did say welcome to Washington. Welcome to the swamp. Welcome to the world of politics,” Trump said.

“For Jon Tester to start bringing up stuff like ‘candy man’ and the kind of things he was saying and then say ‘well, you know, these are just statements that are made.’ There’s no proof of this. And he has a perfect record,” the president said. The "candy man" statement is a reference to accusations that Jackson liberally handed out prescription drugs. “He’s got this beautiful record, unblemished. His son is a wonderful boy, goes to Annapolis at the top of his class, one of the finest cadets, for him to be doing this to this man and this family, I think Jon Tester has to have a big price to pay in Montana.”

A spokeswoman for Tester did not immediately return a request for comment about Trump's attacks, but his office did release a statement Thursday morning thanking the servicemembers who came forward and from whom the allegations against Jackson were sourced.

"I want to thank the servicemembers who bravely spoke out over the past week. It is my Constitutional responsibility to make sure the veterans of this nation get a strong, thoroughly vetted leader who will fight for them," Tester said in the statement. "The next Secretary must have a commitment to reform a strained health care system and a willingness to stand up to special interests who want to privatize the VA. My sleeves are rolled up and ready to work with Chairman Isakson to vet and confirm a Secretary who is fit to run the VA."

Until Thursday morning, the White House had publicly stood behind Jackson even as Republican support for him on Capitol Hill collapsed. The administration insisted that allegations against Jackson were unsubstantiated and that his mixture of medical and military experience made him a uniquely qualified nominee.

A White House spokesman dismissed complaints that Jackson had little managerial experience, arguing that the VA’s bureaucracy is so vast that nobody has applicable experience.