Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who was the White House physician and worked on the president’s care before eventually starting what is now his first term in Congress, has been put under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over what the Jackson team identified as campaign finance issues. Neither the ethics panel nor the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), an independent government body that referred the matter to members of Congress, appear to have publicly disclosed the nature of the potential wrongdoing connected to Jackson. The ethics committee announced that the “Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ethics have jointly decided to extend the matter regarding Representative Ronny Jackson, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics on December 22, 2021… The Committee will announce its course of action in this matter on or before Monday, May 23, 2022.”
The panel specified that recent developments do not conclusively mean that a rules violation took place. A spokesperson for the Texas Congressman complained that the “Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) is a partisan group known for pursuing frivolous witch-hunts. Despite this, Congressman Jackson cooperated fully with OCE by providing detailed explanations regarding questions they had about his campaign finance report.” That spokesperson added that “[as] a strong voice for conservative values, Congressman Jackson is regularly the target of liberal groups like OCE. Nonetheless, he understands that the Ethics Committee had a duty to acknowledge it is looking into the OCE’s claims as defined by House Rules. Congressman Jackson has nothing to hide and will continue his cooperation.”
NBC News: The Jan. 6 Committee is considering an interview with Trump. @NBCNews
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 8, 2022
Jackson may be a “strong voice for conservative values,” whatever that means — but those “values” are bonkers. He’s one of the most publicly belligerent Republicans in Congress; a recent tweet from him showcases this issue. In it, he wrote: “Biden is about to SURRENDER our border completely to criminal drug cartels. Once Title 42 is lifted, it’s OVER – violent criminals will have full reign. It’s bad now, but next month, it’s going to get WORSE. This is TERRIBLE!!” Title 42 refers to pandemic-related restrictions on crossing the southern border. Obviously, Jackson’s claim that Biden is gearing up to “surrender” the southern border to criminals is utterly disconnected from reality. It’s meaningless nonsense that in a simple, straightforward sense is simply incorrect. But looking at Jackson’s personal Twitter feed, you’ll find statement after statement full of similarly mind-numbing ignorance. When in office, Trump nominated Jackson to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but that fell apart amid issues including Jackson’s perpetration of sexual harassment and lax distribution of prescription medication to associates.
Guardian US: Jan. 6 committee now appears to have the same degree of evidence as secured by the FBI and the justice department referred to in recent prosecutions for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Capitol attack, the sources said.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 8, 2022
