WASHINGTON _ A review of White House physician Ronny Jackson's vehicle records found no evidence to support allegations that he wrecked a government car, a White House official said on Friday night.
Jackson on Thursday withdrew from consideration to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs a day after Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, released a document with a long list of alleged transgressions, including that Jackson had crashed a government vehicle after getting drunk at a Secret Service going-away party.
The document also included accusations that Jackson wrote himself prescriptions and had staff write prescriptions for each other to give to other people. The White House pulled several quarterly audits of the medical unit led by Jackson, and found no evidence of impropriety in the handling of prescription drugs, according to the White House official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal matters.
The White House conducted a review of available vehicle records and found no evidence that he had been in any car accidents after drinking, the official said. Three minor accidents _ collisions in 2013, 2016 and 2017 _ all happened during the daytime and Jackson was not determined to be at fault, according to documents the White House reviewed.
Jackson, a Navy rear admiral, told reporters earlier this week that the allegations were false. He said that he had not wrecked a car, and denied that he had provided prescription drugs without documentation. President Donald Trump, who had selected his personal doctor to run the second-largest federal agency, said Jackson was the victim of cutthroat Washington politics.
The two-page list of allegations compiled by Democrats _ citing 23 unnamed current and former colleagues of Jackson, most of whom are still in uniform _ breaks down "serious concerns" about his conduct into three categories: prescribing practices, hostile work environment, and drunkenness.
Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, which had been considering Jackson's nomination, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jackson said he was withdrawing his name from nomination in order to not become a "distraction."
"The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated," he said Thursday in a statement. "If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years."
