Donald Trump's White House does most things poorly—that's a given. But Trump's failed nomination of Dr. Ronny Jackson (aka the "candyman") to head the vast Veterans Affairs bureaucracy really just boggles the mind, even in an era of Trumpian lows.
Jackson pulled his name from consideration early Thursday morning. But it wasn’t until Tuesday night—just 24 hours before Jackson began saying he might pull the plug—that the White House really began defending Trump’s pick. At the White House briefing Wednesday afternoon, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed the vetting process had been “thorough.” On Wednesday night, spokesperson Raj Shah added, “We need evidence to be presented to corroborate” the flood of eye-popping allegations dotting the headlines. Yet asked if they were prepared for Jackson to withdraw his name, Shah told reporters: “We're prepared for everything.”
By that time, Shah clearly had an inkling where things were headed. Still, it was quite a statement for a White House that did zero prep work on Jackson’s nomination to begin with.
First off, no one really thought Jackson had the management chops to oversee a 375,000-person agency in the first place, and that was before we learned how badly he mismanaged the White House medical team of 70.
Then, after putting forward a completely shaky nomination at the outset, came the silent treatment from the White House (courtesy of the Washington Post).
When allegations of professional misconduct by White House physician Ronny L. Jackson started trickling during the past week to the Senate committee considering his nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, its chairman, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), called the White House twice seeking information.
The answers did not appear to satisfy him.
Following that stellar performance, the White House left it to the C-team to prep Jackson and grease the skids on Capitol Hill.
When Trump tapped Jackson for the post, the White House turned to mid-level staffers to brief him, some of whom lack deep knowledge of how VA works, according to people familiar with the situation. A junior press aide was tasked with escorting Jackson to Capitol Hill to meet with senators. [...]
Jackson himself expressed frustration. At one point, he requested that the in-person briefings begin because “he said he was sitting by himself reading briefing books for days,” one official said.
Then, as veterans, active-duty service members, and past/present colleagues of Jackson began lighting up the phone lines of senators, Trump stood before the press corps on Tuesday and mused that maybe Jackson shouldn't go through with the nomination process.
At that point, the White House was still largely on the sidelines. And guess what? The vacuum of communication got filled: Details of a startling 2012 report from the Navy's inspector general were released (by the White House itself!) on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday a summary of juicy details compiled by Senate Democrats from 23 interviews leaked out.
By Wednesday afternoon, Sanders spent a good deal of the press briefing assuring reporters about the rigors of their vetting process: Jackson has “worked within arm’s reach of three presidents,” his “background and character were evaluated during three different administrations,” and he’s had “at least four independent background investigations” during his time at the White House.
In other words, the standard FBI background check for working in a White House conducted by several different administrations is our vetting process. And just to be clear here, an FBI background check has nothing to do with vetting someone for a cabinet position.
One might think a White House riddled with exits would have learned a little something about the importance of vetting people by now. But no. Instead, another one bites the dust.