Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should have informed President Joe Biden of his health condition, the president said on Jan. 12.
“Yes,” President Biden said while in Pennsylvania when asked if it was a lapse in judgment for Mr. Austin not to let him know he had prostate cancer.
Mr. Austin, 70, was diagnosed with the cancer in 2023 and underwent an operation in December to treat it, the Pentagon has since disclosed.
Mr. Austin was hospitalized due to complications from the procedure on Jan. 1, but the president was not informed until Jan. 4, according to U.S. officials. President Biden also did not learn of Mr. Austin’s diagnosis until Jan. 9.
President Biden was speaking for the first time since the secret hospitalization was disclosed by the Pentagon on Jan. 5.
The White House previously said that President Biden would not accept Mr. Austin’s resignation if he offered it.
President Biden told reporters Friday that he has confidence in Mr. Austin, a retired general who has been the president’s only defense secretary so far.
The president told reporters they would talk later and stopped answering questions.
President Biden was in Pennsylvania to visit small businesses. The White House said the visit was meant to “showcase how communities across America are coming back thanks to Bidenomics and his investing in America agenda, which have ushered in a small business boom, created good-paying jobs with rising wages, strengthened local economies, and lowered costs for hardworking families.”
Mr. Austin has said that he takes full responsibility for the delayed notification of the White House and the president. “I also understand the media concerns about transparency, and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” he said in a recent statement.
Mr. Austin is still being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, according to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon is also conducting its own review of notification policies after the hidden hospitalization sparked outcry from the public and members of Congress, while the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee has asked the department for documents as it examines what happened.
“It is unacceptable that neither the Department of Defense, the White House, nor the Congress were accurately informed of your position or capacity. With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the panel’s chairman, told Mr. Austin in a Jan. 9 letter.
Some lawmakers have called on President Biden to fire Mr. Austin, though the president has given no indication he is considering such a move.
“There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, told reporters this week.
Former President Donald Trump has said that Mr. Austin should be relieved due to “improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty.”
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), with support from some colleagues, has introduced an article of impeachment against Mr. Austin over matters including the lack of transparency on the hospitalization.
After Mr. Austin was admitted to the hospital on New Year’s Day with problems such as abdominal pain, he was moved to the intensive care unit for close monitoring. Doctors later stuck a tube in Mr. Austin to drain stomach fluid, which had built up and was limiting his small intestines.
Mr. Austin transferred power to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on Jan. 2, but she was not informed of his situation until Jan. 4, according to the Pentagon. National security adviser Jake Sullivan was said to have been alerted that same day, with word being passed to the president.
The Pentagon blamed the delay in notifications on Mr. Austin’s chief of staff having influenza.
A number of Democrats have joined the criticism of the hidden hospitalization.
“This lack of disclosure must never happen again,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) said that Mr. Austin should resign.
“I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austin’s leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command,” Mr. Deluzio said. “I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee. That duty today requires me to call on Secretary Austin to resign.”
