Former White House physician and Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas suggested Sunday that President Joe Biden should undergo drug testing immediately before and after Thursday’s presidential debate.
“I will now demand, on behalf of millions of concerned Americans, that he be drug tested before and after this debate, specifically tested for performance-enhancing drugs,” Jackson told Fox News.
The unfounded accusations that Biden used performance-enhancing drugs come alongside attacks on the age and mental state of the president, who is seeking reelection at age 81. Former President Donald Trump, who just turned 78, has also faced questions about his cognitive abilities, including misidentifying Jackson as “Lonnie Johnson” at a rally last weekend.
Jackson’s comments echo those of Trump, who at a rally in Philadelphia spread unfounded accusations that Biden was using drugs to enhance his performance in the debates.
“So he gets punched in the ass just before the debate, and — they want to toughen him up, and he’s going to come out, he’s going to come out — okay, he’s going to come out all fired up, right?” Trump told supporters at a rally.
Asked to comment on Jackson’s allegations, a White House spokesman pointed to a statement spokesman Andrew Bates made to Politico last month: “Republican officials can’t stop publicly announcing how threatened they are by Trump. [the] “President’s State of the Union Performance.”
Bates added, “But after losing every public and private negotiation with President Biden and watching him succeed where Republicans across the board have failed — from rebuilding America’s infrastructure to reducing violent crime to winning in the race against China — it’s no wonder those same Republican officials are mistaking confidence for a drug.”
Asked by CNN last week about Trump’s unfounded accusations that Biden was using drugs, Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu referred to “the Lonnie Johnson incident.”
“The other day, as I’m sure you all remember, he tried to question the president’s mental state, and the president couldn’t remember the name of his doctor. So tell President Trump: ‘Bring me anything,'” Landrieu said.
This is not the first time the topic of drug testing has come up during a presidential debate. In 2020, Trump said before the presidential debate that he would be willing to take a drug test, saying, “I [Biden] So should I.”
In October 2016, Trump announced his intention to submit to drug testing before the presidential debates and called on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to do the same.
Jackson, a close adviser to President Trump, has faced intense scrutiny over his conduct in the White House. He served on the White House medical team during the George W. Bush administration and as White House physician under Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.
Jackson withdrew his nomination to be secretary of Veterans Affairs in 2018 after allegations emerged that he was sometimes drunk on the job and that employees had nicknamed him “Candyman” for distributing prescription drugs without documentation.
At the time, Jackson called the allegations “totally false and fabricated.”
A 2021 report by the Department of Defense inspector general found that Jackson had engaged in sexual misconduct, including abusing subordinates and sexually harassing them. Jackson has denied the allegations.
