White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders backed Dr. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
In informal comments to reporters in the White House driveway, Sanders said that the administration viewed the allegations as “outrageous,” pointing out that Jackson received the highest praise from former President Barack Obama and Trump.
Sanders confirmed that the president and Jackson discussed the allegations on Tuesday after the Senate postponed the confirmation hearings.
“I’m not going to go line by line on every outrageous thing out there right now, but he’s certainly discussed them,” she said.
Sanders said that at this point the president continued to back Jackson despite some allegations of drinking excessively and contributing to a “toxic work environment.”
“He wants to have a chance to answer some of those questions, and we’re going to keep on moving forward on this process at this point,” she told Fox News earlier on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Trump said in a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron that he would back Jackson and that it would be up to him whether or not he wanted to continue the confirmation process for the position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Sanders said the allegations against Jackson were character attacks, not serious questions about his ability to run the agency.
“They’re not even talking about his qualifications to run the VA, they’re talking about personal character assassination,” she said. “It’s part of the reason most Americans hate Washington.”