SecDef Lloyd Austin Issues Statement on Secret Hospitalization; Does Not Explain Shocking Failure to Inform Biden or White House Staff, Congress or Pentagon Officials
File image of health-conscience SecDef Lloyd Austin.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, age 70, issued a statement Saturday evening on his secret hospitalization that failed to explain his shocking failure for days to inform Joe Biden or White House staff, Congress or even Pentagon officials that he had been laid up in the Intensive Care Unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland all week while the U.S. was engaging terrorists in Iraq and the Red Sea.
Biden and the White House were not informed until Thursday while Congress was notified on Friday. Some Pentagon officials learned about it from news reports Friday night.
In his statement, Austin took full responsibility for keeping his hospitalization a secret,
