Democracy Dies in Darkness

Trump’s White House clinic improperly handed out narcotics, report finds

Perspective by
Columnist
January 25, 2024 at 3:03 p.m. EST
President Trump with White House physician Ronny Jackson at the White House in 2017. A new watchdog report on the White House Medical Unit under Trump provides context to systemic problems that first made headlines when Jackson was accused by almost two dozen colleagues of improper activities, including providing prescription drugs without proper paperwork; the new report doesn't name Jackson. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
5 min

It’s hard to imagine the president’s in-house health clinic as a rogue operation, but that’s the picture a Pentagon probe paints about the facility during the Trump administration.

The findings are clear and damaging.

“We found that the White House Medical Unit provided a wide range of health care and pharmaceutical services to ineligible White House staff in violation of Federal law and regulation and DoD policy,” says a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general. “Additionally, the White House Medical Unit dispensed prescription medications, including controlled substances, to ineligible White House staff.”