President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Veterans Affairs department said on Wednesday he was moving forward with the nominating process for the position and had not wrecked a car, rebutting a report in the New York Times.
The newspaper reported that Jackson had been accused of mishandling an opioid and wrecking a car while intoxicated.
"I have not wrecked a car, so I can tell you that," Jackson told reporters at the White House.
Jackson, according to the Times, provided “a large supply” of Percocet to a White House military office staff member and also allegedly wrote himself prescriptions. After he was caught writing the prescriptions for himself, he asked a physician assistant to provide the medication.
During a Secret Service party, Jackson also got intoxicated and “wrecked a government vehicle,” according to a Democratic Senate staff summary of alleged conduct by Trump’s personal physician. The summary was based on testimony from 23 of Jackson’s current and former colleagues.
The Senate committee reviewing Jackson’s nomination was postponed because of the claims, which also included Jackson reportedly drinking during a 2015 overseas trip with the Obama administration then returning to the delegation’s hotel and banging on the door of a staff member’s hotel room.
The White House aggressively defended Jackson on Wednesday, calling the claims “outrageous.”
“None of those things have come up in the four separate background investigations that have taken place,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “There’s been no area of concern that was raised for Dr. Jackson specifically.”
When pressed on the new allegations, Sanders said she couldn’t comment.
“These are new,” she said. “I can only speak to some of the personal accounts that those of us have, as well as the records that we have that are substantiated through a very detailed and thorough background investigation process.”
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.