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Lawmakers put off hearing for Trump’s pick to lead Department of Veterans Affairs amid misconduct claims

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Lawmakers are indefinitely delaying the confirmation hearing for President Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Lawmakers are indefinitely delaying the confirmation hearing for President Trump’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs amid allegations of misconduct.
The Senate Veterans Affairs committee announced the move on Tuesday as nominee Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson faces claims that he oversaw a hostile work environment as the White House physician, over-prescribed medications and drank on the job at various stages of his career.
The committee was scheduled to hold Jackson’s hearing on Wednesday.
Sources close to the committee told CBS News that staff is reviewing multiple allegations of a “hostile work environment.”
The accusations also include “drinking on the job, improperly dispensing meds,” said one of the people familiar with the claims.
“We take very seriously our constitutional duty to thoroughly and carefully vet each nominee sent to the Senate for confirmation. We will continue looking into these serious allegations and have requested additional information from the White House to enable the committee to conduct a full review,” Senators Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said in a statement.
Trump’s choice to replace fired VA head David Shulkin following an ethics scandal has raised eyebrows for his dearth of experience and nonexistent bureaucratic background.
Jackson has since faced numerous questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers about whether he has the experience to manage the massive department of 360,000 employees serving 9 million veterans.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley praised Jackson on Tuesday for serving as a physician to three U. S. presidents, both Republican and Democrat.
Jackson has a record of “strong decisive leadership” and is “exactly what’s needed at the VA,” he said.
The 50-year-old was deployed to Iraq with a Marine unit and served as the emergency physician in charge of resuscitative medicine for a trauma platoon before joining the White House medical team in 2006.
“Admiral Jackson has been on the front lines of deadly combat and saved the lives of many others in service to this country,” Gidley said.
Jackson, as the White House doctor, revealed in January that the President is just one pound away from being considered obese, doesn’t exercise regularly, has a diet dominated by fatty foods and carbs — and still determined he was in “excellent” health.

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