Barack Obama reportedly scolded former White House physician and now Texas congressman Ronny Jackson for questioning Joe Biden‘s cognitive health during his 2020 presidential campaign. According to Jackson’s upcoming memoir Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values, Obama fired off a “scathing” email after Jackson made a tweet about Biden.
In an excerpt provided to Fox News, the former White House physician wrote that he was growing frustrated with people ripping him for determining that Donald Trump was in “excellent mental shape” and “had absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever.” After watching a video of Biden having a “cognitive misadventure” on the campaign trail, Jackson had enough and retweeted the video along with an attack on Biden.
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
“Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!” Jackson tweeted.
Twenty minutes after sending the tweet, Jackson received an email from Obama scolding him for taking a “cheap shot” at Biden and disrespecting his former friends and co-workers. Via Fox News:
“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,” Obama wrote in the email.
“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,” Obama told Jackson.
According to Jackson’s memoir, he contemplated calling Obama but chose not to respond after taking advice from right-wing radio host Dan Bongino. Yup.
“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].”
(Via Fox News)