Former President Obama had some harsh words for his former White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, who is now a GOP congressman from Texas.
The 44th president sent a scathing email to Jackson after he questioned then-Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden’s mental fitness in 2020.
Jackson revealed the email in his forthcoming book, a memoir titled, “Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values,” Fox News.
The former physician noted Biden’s “crazy statements and concerning mental gaffes,” which the news outlet said was a criticism he was imminently qualified to make after having served as the White House physician to Presidents George W. Bush, Obama, and Donald Trump.
“Biden was on TV again, making crazy statements and concerning mental gaffes; he didn’t know what state he was in or what office he was campaigning for,” Jackson recalls of the 2020 campaign season. “He apparently thought at one point that he was running for the Senate and later couldn’t remember what state he was campaigning in. This had been going on for months and was getting worse.”
Fox News went on to add:
For years, the media had accused Trump of being mentally unwell, and in 2018 many commentators mocked Jackson for saying that a cognitive evaluation Trump had taken showed he was in “excellent” mental shape and “had absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever.”
“Trump never made crazy statements like the ones Biden was making almost every day,” Jackson writes, “but these people were jumping up and down: ‘He’s not fit to be president; he needs a cognitive test!’”
In 2020 as Jackson himself ran for Congress, he was bothered by the mainstream media’s lack of attention to Biden’s cognitive issues, Fox News continued.
He retweeted a video of Biden’s “latest cognitive misadventure” with this message: “Remember the cognitive test that I gave ? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!”
Jackson said within 20 minutes of that tweet, he received a “scathing” email from Obama.
“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,” Obama continued.
“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,” he added.
“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.
Jackson said the email stunned him and he considered responding but ultimately did not.
“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.
The former White House doc has been a regular critic of Biden’s perceived mental fitness.
“I’m not trying to make a diagnosis,” Jackson said earlier this year. “But I think the whole world sees that he’s having some issues. He’s struggling cognitively.”
“It’s not a good time to have a commander-in-chief and a head of state that’s having these particular issues. I think there’s something going on … it’s a national security issue at this particular point,” he continued.
Asked by John Hines of OAN if there were “national security implications” involved, Jackson responded, “Well sure, look at what’s going on … In that position, if you have cognitive issues, it’s going to be a national security issue regardless.”
The GOP lawmaker and former White House doc also said last week that Biden’s mental fitness for office was “dangerous” and that the president needed to undergo cognitive testing “immediately.”
His remarks came after Biden was widely panned for making several puzzling and bizarre remarks regarding what was happening with respect to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Biden is unable to articulate the major foreign policy objectives of his administration,” Jackson tweeted this week. “Everytime [sic] he tries, the White House swoops in to ‘correct’ what he said. He has NO IDEA what’s going on. His cognitive decline is TOO MUCH. Time to RESIGN!”
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