Obama Rebuked Ex-White House Doctor for Questioning Biden’s Mental Health: Email

Rita LiJuly 14, 2022

Former President Barack Obama expressed his “disappointment” in a 2020 email to his former doctor for questioning then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s cognitive health, calling it “unprofessional.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), the former White House physician who served the last three presidents—George W. Bush, Obama, and Donald Trump—disclosed the email in a forthcoming memoir called “Holding the Line: A Lifetime of Defending Democracy and American Values,” reported Fox News.

In 2020, when Biden was running for president and Jackson himself was running for Congress, the latter shared a video of Biden’s cognitive misadventure on Twitter with the message, “Remember the cognitive test that I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!!”

Within 20 minutes of his post, Jackson received what he called a “scathing” email from his former boss 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,” Obama wrote in the email, calling him “not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend.”

“That’s why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter,” the former president 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.”

Obama told Jackson that he “expect[s] better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future.”

After contemplating responding to Obama’s email, Jackson said he eventually decided to walk away from it, which ended up being their last contact.

Remember the cognitive test I gave @realDonaldTrump? The one he aced! Sounds like somebody else might need some testing done!! Scary!! https://t.co/MhantZoHIy

— Ronny