Former White House Doctor Releases Email From Obama Scolding Him For ‘Cheap Shot’ at Biden’s Mental Health

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) released an email he received from former President Barack Obama, who reprimanded him for using his old position as former White House physician to bash Joe Biden’s cognitive acuity.

Fox News obtained a preview of Jackson’s upcoming memoir Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values. The excerpts show Jackson used part of the book to reflect on his digs at Biden during the 2020 election, when many conservative critics were pointing to the future president’s gaffes as proof he was senile.

“Trump never made crazy statements like the ones Biden was making almost every day,” Jackson writes in his book, “but these people were jumping up and down: ‘He’s not fit to be president; he needs a cognitive test!’”

Jackson was still White House Physician when he gave Donald Trump a cognitive test years ago, an exam the former president constantly brags about even though its a very simple test for people who don’t have dementia. Jackson is also known for his White House press briefing of 2018 where he gushed about Trump’s physical and mental well-being as he gave the ex-president a clean bill of health.

In one point of the book, Jackson recalled that he went after Biden’s cognitive health while basing his attack on the credentials of his former job:

Remember the cognitive test I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!! https://t.co/MhantZoHIy

— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) February 25, 2020

Jackson was White House physician back when Obama was in office, and Jackson shared an email the former president sent him to express his disappointment with his “friend.”

From the email:

I have made a point of not commenting on your service in my successor’s administration and have always spoken highly of you both in public and in private. You always served me and my family well, and I have considered you not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend.

That’s why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter. It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held. It was also disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration.

You were the personal physician to the President of the United States as well as an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I expect better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future.

Here’s how Jackson took that, according to Fox:

Surprised and flustered by the email, Jackson ultimately chose not to respond. Jackson recalls considering whether to call the former president, but a friend of his, radio host and conservative commentator Dan Bongino, reminded him that Obama did nothing while Jackson was in the midst of a Senate confirmation fight to be Trump’s secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“So, upon reflection, I thought, You know what? Screw that guy! I’m not doing it,” Jackson wrote. “I just walked away from it, which was the last time I had any contact with [Obama],” Jackson wrote.

Jackson offered further comment to Fox News Digital, saying Biden’s “cognitive failures are on full display for the whole world to see,” and “he will not make it four years in office.”

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