Video released by Texas law enforcement on Monday shows U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) berating officers and threatening to report them to the state’s governor after they put him in handcuffs last month outside a rodeo.
During the confrontation, the former White House physician can be seen in body camera footage directing profanity at law enforcement officers after at least two sheriff’s deputies wrestled him to the ground, put him facedown and placed him in handcuffs. The altercation occurred after Jackson, a two-term Republican congressman, said he had been attempting to help a 15-year-old girl who authorities have said was having seizures.
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The Texas Department of Public Safety released body and dash camera video on Monday that details the chaotic incident, which occurred late on July 29 outside of the White Deer rodeo, about 45 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas. Both the video and written records indicate that Jackson was temporarily detained after he had refused to cease providing medical assistance to the girl when medics arrived on the scene.
“I’m going to call the governor tomorrow and I’m going to (expletive) talk to him about this (expletive), because this is (expletive) ridiculous,” Jackson can later be heard telling a state trooper with a raised voice.
A trooper on the scene detailed the incident to his superiors in an email provided to USA TODAY in which he said an “agitated” Jackson had to be forcibly restrained by Carson County Sheriff’s deputies from coming toward him. The trooper also said that he believed Jackson “had been drinking due to his belligerent actions.”
Rep. Jackson said he stands by his actions
Jackson said in a post Monday night on X, formerly Twitter, that he is “glad the video is out,” which he contended showed “the incompetence of the authorities and their complete disregard for the young girl in distress.” While he apologized for using profanity, he doubled down on his actions after law enforcement said he had refused to comply with their commands to step away from the teen girl.
“I will not apologize for getting upset & speaking my mind considering the circumstances,” Jackson posted. “If I had to do it again, I would still step up & act in a life-threatening situation. I will ALWAYS help someone in need. I WILL NOT apologize for that.”
Kate Lair, a spokesperson for Jackson, further defended Jackson’s actions, which she said were sparked when he was prevented from providing medical care “in a potentially life-threatening situation.” In the statement provided Tuesday to USA TODAY, Lair said the congressman had not been drinking that night and blamed the confrontation on “overly aggressive and incompetent actions by the local authorities.”
“Congressman Jackson, as a trained ER physician, will not apologize for sparing no effort to help in a medical emergency, especially when the circumstances were chaotic and the local authorities refused to help the situation,” Lair said in the statement.
Jackson spoke with Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry after the encounter, where he demanded consequences for the two deputies who detained him and threatened to “bury” Terry in the next election, according to a written report Terry provided on Tuesday to USA TODAY.
Terry declined to provide additional comment, but concluded his report by noting that “if the goal was to care for the patient, the aggressive activity from Jackson should have subsided once she was in the care of EMS.”
“It became a contest of who oversees the patient’s care,” Terry wrote in the report in which he said her determined the deputies’ actions were justified. “One thing for sure is everyone present knew that the Trooper was a Trooper, and everyone should have complied with his commands, no matter the circumstances.”
Who is Ronny Jackson?
A retired Navy rear admiral, Jackson was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 after serving as former President Donald Trump’s top physician.
Jackson also served in the White House Medical Unit under both Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush before Obama elevated him to the top medical position in 2013.
Both Obama and Trump gave him glowing performance reviews, according to portions of the reviews released by the White House. Trump kept Jackson on until his resignation in 2019, after which Jackson launched his campaign for Congress.
As an elected official, Jackson was recently among 71 GOP lawmakers who opposed the debt limit bill that passed the House in June with bipartisan support.
Jackson also has pushed for an amendment that would dismantle a Pentagon policy reimbursing out-of-state travel for service members who receive abortions. The amendment was among the most popular for House conservatives, with over 70 co-sponsors, and Republicans passed the measure on a mostly party line vote of 221-213.
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Previous Pentagon report shows Jackson no stranger to controversy
A year after Jackson was elected to Congress, the Department of Defense inspector general released a scathing report about an alleged toxic work environment rife with dysfunction during his tenure as White House physician.
The report accused Jackson of making “sexual and denigrating statements” about a female subordinate and of violating the policy of drinking alcohol. One alleged incident said Jackson “engaged in alcohol-related misconduct, including wrecking a government vehicle while intoxicated.”
“We concluded that Rear Admiral Jackson’s overall course of conduct toward subordinates disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated them, and fostered a negative work environment by failing to treat subordinates with dignity and respect,” the investigators said in a press release revealing their findings.
Jackson denied the allegations and said at the time that the report was a “political hit job,” according to the Associated Press.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com.
