Rep. Ronny Jackson, former White House physician and current Congressman, urged President Biden to undergo testing for “performance enhancing drugs” ahead of the upcoming presidential debate.
Jackson, who served under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, emphasized his familiarity with the demands of the presidential role and the need for cognitive assessment.
“During that time, I took care of all three of the presidents and, you know, on a day to day basis. I also, you know, I also was the director of the White House Medical Unit and the appointed physician to the president for both Obama and Trump. So I kind of feel like I know exactly what’s required on a day-to-day basis, both mentally and physically, to do the job of president of the United States,” Jackson said.
“Maria, I don’t need to tell you, I don’t need to tell your viewers or anybody else in this country right now that we have a serious problem here. Everyone knows it now. You don’t have to be a physician. You certainly don’t have to be a physician to the president and see what’s going on right now,” he said.
He highlighted his multiple failed attempts to prompt Biden to take a cognitive test and stresses the importance of a drug test before and after the debate to address concerns about potential performance-enhancing substances.
“So I have sent five letters previously asking for President Biden to submit to a cognitive test, very similar to the one that President Trump got while he was president. And all five of those letters have gone completely ignored. So tomorrow I’m sending a letter to President Biden, to his physician, Dr. O’Connor, and I’m CC’ing his entire cabinet,” Jackson said.
“But we don’t have any choice based on what’s going on. But I’m going to be demanding on behalf of many millions of concerned Americans right now that he submit to a drug test before and after this debate, specifically looking for performance enhancing drugs,” Jackson said.
“Because we see, we’ve seen recently in a State of the Union address that there was a Joe Biden that came out that was not similar at all to what we see on a day to day basis for the last three and a half years. And there’s really no way to explain that other than he was on something, that they’d give any medications.”
The call for testing comes amidst anticipation for the debate between Biden and Trump, with heightened scrutiny on the candidates’ performance and behavior.