Donald Trump, Jr. spoke at the Montana Republican Convention in Billings on Friday and excoriated incumbent Senator Jon Tester for his treatment of former White House physician and VA nominee Ronny Jackson.

In a recent interview before the Montana Broadcasters convention in Whitefish, Tester explained and defended his handling of the situation.

“Ronny Jackson was sitting in my office, nice guy, nice guy," said Tester. “We continued the vetting process and we found out some problems. Wasn’t sure, so we asked him to answer them, and no answer, so we made them public, and quite frankly then he stepped back. I did my job and I also saved him a lot of heartache, I believe.”

Tester said that if Jackson had appeared before the full committee, he could have faced legal troubles.

“When those folks who are nominated for the position for the Secretary of the VA, they’re put under oath,” he said. “Every one of the questions we asked him would have been asked in committee and he’d have been under oath, so I think we saved him some problems, I would just say furthermore that 25 people came forward. They weren’t all in the same group. All were military, some retired and some active duty and talked about problems from different angles that they had.”

Jackson withdrew his nomination as Secretary of the Veterans Administration, and President Trump placed the blame on Tester, vowing to work for his defeat in the November general election.

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