Breaking news.
White House staffers abused prescription drugs.
That's the topic of a new piece by rolling Stone.
And while this isn't surprising by any means, rolling Stone delved into the topic
following a Defense Department's inspector general report
from back in January that found that the Trump administration distributed construct
controlled substances with scant oversight and even sloppier record keeping,
investigators repeatedly noted that the unit had ordered thousands
and thousands of doses of the stimulant.
Modafinil, modafinil, modafinil, right. That's how you say it.
It's kind of like Adderall, but a little different.
It is a stimulant which has been used by military pilots for decades
to stay alert during long sessions.
The report did not say why so many of those pills had been doled out, but the.
For many who served in the Trump White House, the investigation highlighted
an alleged open secret.
Now, according to interviews with four former senior administration officials
and others with knowledge of the matter, the stimulant was routinely given
to staffers who needed an energy boost after a late night,
or just a pick me up to handle another day at a uniquely stressful job, as one of
the former officials tells rolling Stone.
The white House at that time was awash in speed.
Knowledgeable sources say that samples of the stimulant were passed around
for those contributing lines to major Trump speeches, working late hours
on foreign policy initiatives, responding to special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe,
coping with the deluge of media inquiries about the investigation, and so much more.
So I am inclined to believe the reporting here and the investigation that was done
by the Inspector General General's office.
I just think that anyone who's surprised about this,
or anyone who's under the assumption that it was only the Trump White House
where these types of stimulants were being doled out, I think that you're wrong.
I think that this is likely something that happens in a lot of administrations,
including likely the Biden administration as well.
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Well, there was the, coke that they found in the white House, if you remember.
Yeah.
And, and then people were that was it became a big scandal.
It's a good point, Anna.
I'm, I'm positive that there's been, abuse of controlled substances
in every white House.
- We're talking about. - Super old presidential candidates.
Right?
So, like, Trump was up there in age during his time.
Biden is up there in age right now as we speak.
Are we really going to pretend like neither one of them have taken
stimulants before public appearances?
I literally have no idea.
I because I'm not, I don't I've never done a stimulant.
I don't know what it's like. I don't know how much they need it.
I have a natural stimulant inside me, so, like, I'm.
I can't relate, but I guess other people needed to stay up to get.
Every newsroom in America is awash with speed.
That's amazing. Yeah, there's been reporting on it.
I'm not just speculating on this.
There's been widespread reporting on journalists taking things like Adderall
and other stimulants in order to remain alert and do their jobs.
And so journalists sure have stressful jobs.
But imagine working in the white House.
Imagine traveling on Air Force One, going to different countries, having
to stay awake, dealing with jet lag.
I'm not trying to justify it. Right.
I, but it's happening, and I'm not going to pretend like it's
only indicative of one administration.
So at the same time, there's a certain lawlessness to the Trump, and we're going
to get to the candy man in a second.
I love the candy man. But so he's part of this story.
But, there's a certain, lawlessness in the Trump administration.
They think like, oh, there's no rules left.
And that's why you do see in the story that they're like, this is
above and beyond what normally happens.
So it's not like there isn't any speed or any pills in other white houses, but they
felt like there was no accountability, which sounds very Trumpian.
And that part I, I believe.
So, apparently modafinil wasn't the only drug that was being passed
around in the Trump White House.
This reporting and the sources that were interviewed for this reporting allege
that things like Xanax were also being given out to certain white House staffers.
Three sources, in fact, told rolling Stone that the anti-anxiety medication
Xanax was also popular. Easy to get, during the Trump years.
Now, one person said, quote, it was kind of like the Wild West.
Things were pretty loose.
Whatever someone needs, we were going to fill.
All this sounds like a fun time.
Now, during Trump's presidency, two sources say senior staffers would
repeatedly downed Xanax with alcohol.
Not a fun time. Very dangerous.
Do not do that.
Such a combination increases the risk of serious,
life threatening side effects, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Nevertheless, senior officials would use Xanax and alcohol together
to soothe themselves while enduring the sky high levels of stress
that come with working at the highest pressure environment job in America.
And look, there are a lot of anonymous sources in this piece,
and I'd be more skeptical if it was just anonymous sources.
But Stephanie Grisham, who worked for Trump's White House
as his press secretary, briefly gave her name for this reporting.
And I want to get to her statement, she says.
Stephanie Grisham, Trump's former white House press secretary,
says that on overseas trips, physician to the president, Doctor Ronnie Jackson,
would come around Air Force One asking Donald Trump's senior staff
if they needed anything.
This included the brand name for modafinil
and the sleep aid Ambien, and he would hand them out, typically in the form
of packets with 2 or 3 pills in them.
When this happened on Air Force One, a nurse would be trailing him,
writing down who got what.
And in fact, after a 2018 report about Ronny Jackson from the Veterans
Affairs Committee lead Senator Jon Tester, he said during an interview on CNN,
quote, in the white House, they call him meaning Ronny Jackson, the candy man.
So, look, it's it seems like it's way more than than an average white House.
As the first quote was told you, thousands and thousands of doses that the Pentagon
is not used to this volume of drugs that were at the Trump White House.
Now, I will say Trump is legendarily,
sober in that he does not drink alcohol.
And as far as we know, he doesn't do any of the Coke or any of those kind of drugs
because his brother died from addiction.
And so he's always foresworn that there's always rumors that he's on Adderall.
I have no idea if that's true. None.
Right.
But we know he doesn't do the heavier stuff.
This seems like it's more for his staff than it is for him, as far as I can tell.
The candy man later becoming became a US congressman.
By the way, he's also the doctor who said that Trump was the,
like, the best physical shape he'd ever seen of anyone, the candy.
- Man, the best shape, best she's. - The best shape, etc.
He was a hot, sweaty mess during that press conference.
He was one of the funnier moments. Right?
So last thing, these are the same guys, by the way.
Also true in the Biden administration and Obama administration.
Biden took a small step the other day, but these are all the guys
who say marijuana is so dangerous.
It should be a schedule one drug. And wow, watch out for marijuana, right?
We're not going to make that legal.
Meanwhile, Xanax and alcohol are actually seriously dangerous.
And they're like pop pop, pop pop. Where's the candy, man?
So it's okay. Do you find it at.
All strange that this piece was just published, like the inspector general
report that was referenced was from back in January, and now all of a sudden,
there's this rolling Stone piece about like, oh, stimulant use ran rampant
in the Trump White House.
Do you think point, Anna, do you think there's.
A possibility that this is an attempt to provide cover for Biden
by pointing to Trump and like, because what do you get out of this, right.
It doesn't say that Trump took stimulants, but one who reads this
might feel that it's implied.
Right?
And maybe the argument is, well, you know, Trump seems a lot more lively
and more alert than Biden, but there is a possibility that he's
taking prescription drugs to appear.
So maybe. No, you flip me.
No, you flip me.
Because if when Snowden leaks something from the Pentagon, he's got to go hide
in Russia for the rest of his life, that's leaked from the Pentagon, and it
seems like nobody's worried about it.
It seems like the white House is pretty happy that the Pentagon happened
to leak something terrible about the previous administration.
So take that with a giant dose of not Xanax.
- No. Okay. - Mixed with alcohol.
- No, don't do that. - Don't do that.
Right.
But a giant dose of, you know, grain of salt.
Grain of salt. Yeah.
And so these are the kind of leaks the government does all the time
against their political opponents.
So here we are. We don't like Trump.
We're being honest with you guys that be careful of this kind of report.
I mean, by.
The way, guys, historically it's it's well known
that former presidents use certain drugs during their time in the white House.
For instance, John F Kennedy reportedly took a cocktail
of uppers and downers to fight back pain.
Richard Nixon allegedly took an antiepileptic drug
when his mood wasn't too good.
No, no, guys, that's what I was the last thing I was going to get to.
Is that?
I mean, as bad as the Trump White House might have been compared to Biden
and Obama like, not that they were angels, but that Trump's was worse or something.
Nothing compares to what Nixon himself and LBJ himself
and Kennedy himself were all doing, right?
LBJ and Nixon were perpetually drunk, and they were the president.
They had the nuclear codes even during the, right as Nixon was about to resign,
when the Republicans went to go talk to him, he was so drunk
he wasn't making any sense.
- I mean, I would. - Probably want to be.
Drunk, too, like.
They couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.
And then the staffer said, yeah, yeah, he's just blitzed out of his mind.
So compared to that, Trump is actually sober.
That's not his problem, right? His problem is many, many other things.
Yes.