Navy Secretary John Phelan has reinstated the military rank of President Donald Trump’s disgraced physician after it was stripped over concerns about his personal conduct.
Ronny Jackson, now a Texas congressman, will have his rank of retired rear admiral reinstated after suffering a humiliating demotion in 2022 during the Biden administration, according to a June 13 letter from Phelan that Jackson posted on X Wednesday.
“After finding good cause to reopen your retired grade determination, and upon review of all applicable reports and references, it is my pleasure to inform you, effective immediately, you are retroactively reinstated to the retired grade of Rear Admiral (Lower Half),” Phelan wrote.
Jackson slammed former President Joe Biden in touting the reinstatement.
“I was, and still am, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and Joe Biden is a retired old FOOL,” Jackson wrote. “After the Biden administration’s politically motivated attacks against me, I am pleased to share that my military rank has been fully restored.”
The Senate confirmed Phelan, an art collector and businessman with no prior military experience, as Navy secretary in February.
As first reported by The Washington Post, Jackson was downgraded from retired rear admiral to retired captain after an inspector general’s report accused him of making “sexual and denigrating statements” about a female subordinate as well as having “disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated” subordinates.
Jackson was also punished for drinking inappropriately with subordinates and taking the sleep medication Ambien while on duty during trips as Trump’s physician.
Despite the demotion, Jackson has continued to refer to himself as an admiral for the past three years.
Chris Meagher, who served as assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs under former President Joe Biden, criticized the decision.
“Unfortunately, through this action and others, this commander in chief and this defense secretary continue to show the American people that loyalty to power is more valuable than integrity in uniform,” Meagher told the Post.
Jackson, who was elected to Congress in 2020, first became widely known for his exaggerated remarks about Trump’s health. That included a 2018 press conference in which he claimed Trump could “live to 200” thanks to his “incredible genes.”
Jackson, whose medical license expired in 2020, continues to offer medical advice and treatment to Trump. Last July, he said he examined Trump shortly after the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In August, the White House released a statement to the Daily Beast with quotes from Jackson, rather than those of Trump’s official White House physician, Sean Barbabella, to declare that Trump is the “healthiest president this nation has ever seen.”
The declaration from Jackson arrives amid the growing concerns about Trump’s health as the 79-year-old has frequently appeared in public with large bruises on his right hand, which he has covered with makeup, and swollen cankles. In July, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition in which veins have trouble returning blood to the heart.
Trump has also begun to speculate about his mortality, telling Fox News in August, “I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I hear I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole.”
