In a roughly four-and-a-half minute 911 call a little after 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 1, an aide to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requested an ambulance to quietly take the top official to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after Austin experienced some post-surgery complications, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Daily Beast. The aide requested the dispatchers take pains to arrive quietly, asking them to have the ambulance show up without lights and sirens. At the time, the Secretary of Defense had kept secret from senior Biden administration officials his cancer diagnosis in December, his surgery, and his trip to the hospital that day. “Uhm, we’re trying to remain a little subtle,” the aide said, per the recording.
Listen to the full audio of the 911 call below.
