Rep. Ronny Jackson announced that the Navy has restored his retired rank of rear admiral, overturning a 2022 demotion that followed a scathing investigation that found major issues with his behavior while he was the top White House physician.
The Texas Republican on Wednesday posted a June 13 letter from Navy Secretary John Phelan saying he had reinstated Jackson to the retired rank of a one-star admiral following a “review of all applicable reports and references.” The Navy confirmed the move, with a spokesperson for Phelan saying he “greatly appreciates Congressman Jackson’s decades of distinguished naval service.”
The decision to restore Jackson’s rank comes as the Pentagon has become increasingly transparent in offering benefits and consideration to those it sees as personally loyal supporters of President Donald Trump, while those who are seen as unsupportive of Trump have been pushed out of senior roles across the military. Two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who oversaw the intelligence agency that produced an initial intelligence assessment of U.S. damage to Iranian nuclear sites that angered Trump.
Following his 2019 retirement from the Navy, Jackson was retroactively demoted following a yearslong investigation into his behavior when he was a physician to Trump and former President Barack Obama. An inspector general’s report found that he made “sexual and denigrating” comments about a female subordinate, violated the policy on drinking alcohol on a presidential trip and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care.
Jackson gained notoriety for his over-the-top pronouncements about Trump’s health during his first term. He was elected to Congress in 2020 following a failed effort in the first Trump administration to appoint him the secretary of Veterans Affairs in 2018.
“I was, and still am, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and Joe Biden is a retired old FOOL,” Jackson said on social media, where he has called himself an admiral despite his demotion.
Last week, military officials revealed that Ashli Babbitt, the rioter who was killed by a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, would be offered military funeral honors.
Babbitt was a U.S. Air Force veteran from California who was shot and killed wearing a Trump campaign flag wrapped around her shoulders while trying to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol as rioters interrupted the counting of electoral votes certifying Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.