Three years after a politically motivated investigation and reduction in rank, former White House physician and deputy assistant to the president Ronny Jackson has been restored to the rank of admiral.
Jackson was a triggering figure for Senate Democrats and some Republicans during Trump's first term. The oleaginous Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson allowed Montana Democrat Jon Tester to turn Jackson's nomination hearing to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs into a character assassination campaign. He was twice nominated to the rank of rear (two-star) admiral, and Mitch McConnell declined to allow a vote either time.
The big chance for the Democrats came after Jackson's 2019 retirement and the inauguration of Joe Biden and his autopen. Anonymous allegations of a "hostile work environment," which in today's parlance usually means a boss who insists on results, were made against Jackson in 2018.
The Department of Defense IG investigated for over a year but came up dry. Then, barely a month after Biden's inauguration, the same IG issued a report substantiating a wide range of alleged misconduct by Jackson.
The DODIG found that Jackson “made sexual and denigrating statements” about a female staff member, drank alcohol and took the sleeping pill Ambien while on the job, and overall contributed to a “negative work environment” while serving as White House physician.
As a result, Jackson was subjected to a "retirement grade determination” board, which directed Jackson to be reduced in rank to captain.
Jackson says it was all about politics.
“If I had retired and not gotten into politics, this investigation would have never gone anywhere,” Jackson writes. “This was happening because I am a perceived threat to the Biden administration and because a few political appointees in the Department of Defense want to make a name for themselves.”
It isn't coincidental that an investigation that was going nowhere was resurrected and used as a tool to attempt to damage Jackson after he was elected to Congress as a Republican in 2020. Had Jackson not been close to Trump and faded away after retirement, the investigation would have, rightfully, disappeared. Because he didn't, it was used as a form of payback by the Biden White House.
Anyway, the good news is that Navy Secretary John Phelan did the right thing and restored Jackson to his correct retirement rank.
I was, and still am, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and Joe Biden is a retired old FOOL.
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) September 3, 2025
After the Biden administration’s politically motivated attacks against me, I am pleased to share that my military rank has been fully restored.
Thank you, @SECNAV, for righting the… pic.twitter.com/XDwgxRCKMw
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