Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday broke his silence on his multi-day hospital stay that was kept secret from the public, the Pentagon press corps, lawmakers, and reportedly even senior White House officials including President Joe Biden.
In a statement, Austin thanked the staff of Walter Reed Medical Center who treated him after complications from a surgery left him hospitalized for five days and addressed the outcry that followed.
“I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed,” Austin said. “I commit to doing better.”
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The public and Congress were only made aware that the nation’s top military official was hospitalized five days after he was checked in to Walter Reed.
Top White House officials and members of the National Security Council—including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Biden himself—were only made aware after three full days, according to a Politico report that cited three U.S. officials.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said if the reports claiming the White House was kept out of the loop were true “there must be consequences for this shocking breakdown.”
“Secretary Austin must address promptly the troubling report that the Department of Defense didn't immediately notify President Biden or the National Security Council that he was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties,” Cotton said in a statement. “The Secretary of Defense is the key link in the chain of command between the president and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command, when the weightiest of decisions must be made in minutes.”
Austin, in his statement, gave no further details on the complications that left him incapacitated or why his stay was withheld from officials and the public for days.
“I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon,” Austin wrote. “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”
