MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Thursday said White House physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson sounded like “a political hack” during his briefing to reporters on President Trump’s health earlier this week.
The criticism from the “Morning Joe” co-host two days after Jackson, who was appointed in 2013 by former President Obama as his presidential physician, concluded Trump was in “excellent health.”
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“Are we questioning his integrity? No, we’re not. I’m just questioning his motivations,” Scarborough said of Jackson, who also served as a physician for President George W. Bush. “Maybe he likes eating at the White House mess hall. I don’t know.”
“But his own words are not the words of a physician, they’re the words of a political hack,” he said.
The conversation was spurred by a column by Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, who accused Jackson on Wednesday of being “so effusive in extolling the totally amazing, surpassingly marvelous, superbly stupendous and extremely awesome health of the president that the doctor sounded almost Trumpian.”
On Wednesday, Scarborough, who has insisted for months that the president suffers early onset dementia despite any evidence to back up the claim, also questioned Trump’s listed weight after last week’s exam.
“All I can tell you is this: If that’s what 239 pounds looks like, I would weigh 170 pounds, so yes, I have great respect for people who, great respect for this doctor, but if that’s what 6-3, 239 pounds looks like, that’s a shock to me,” said the “Morning Joe” host.
Last week, Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski told Katie Couric in a podcast interview they believed the president wasn’t mentally stable.
“We have a president who, Mika and I believe through knowing him, is not mentally stable, is less stable a year and a half ago when people on his campaign told me they believe he had early onset dementia,” Scarborough told Couric.
Trump scored 30 out of 30 on a cognitive test he requested, Jackson said during a news conference Tuesday from the James S. Brady briefing room.
“There’s no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues,” Jackson said. “I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes.”
Trump has not appeared on “Morning Joe” or MSNBC since May 2016.