Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin marked his first week back in the Pentagon by publicly apologizing for hiding his January hospitalization.
The cabinet member addressed the scandal at a press conference on Feb. 1. Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 following a complication from a minimally invasive procedure on Dec. 22. The 70-year-old ultimately spent two weeks recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, including several days in the critical care unit. The White House, Congress, and the National Security Council were not informed of Austin's hospitalization until Jan. 4.
“I want to be crystal clear – we did not handle this right. I did not handle this right,” said Austin. “I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.”
He stressed that there were no gaps in authority and “no risks to the department’s command and control."
“At every moment, either I or the deputy secretary was in full charge,” Austin said.
According to previous reports, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks was in Puerto Rico on vacation when she assumed Austin’s duties on Jan. 2. She learned of his condition on Jan. 4 and returned to the United States on Jan. 6.
The defense secretary said new procedures have been created to ensure there are no future lapses in notifications.
Austin said his prostate cancer diagnosis was a “gut punch” that he had wanted to keep private.
“The news shook me and I know that it shakes so many others, especially in the Black community,” he told reporters. “I don’t think it’s news that I’m a pretty private guy. I’ve never liked burdening others with my problems. It’s not my way."
“But I’ve learned from this experience,” Austin added. “Taking this kind of job means losing some of the privacy that most of us expect.”
“The American people have a right to know if their leaders are facing health challenges that might affect their abilities to perform their duties, even temporarily,” he said. “So wider circles should have been notified, especially the president.”
Austin said that he is “recovering well” but still experiencing some leg pain and attending physical therapy.
When news of Austin’s secret hospitalization broke on Jan. 7, the backlash was widespread and bipartisan.
“Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty,” wrote former President Donald Trump on Truth Social. “He has been missing for one week, and nobody, including his boss, Crooked Joe Biden, had a clue as to where he was, or might be.”
Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale, a Republican, introduced articles of impeachment against Austin on Jan. 9, calling the secretary’s dishonesty a “repeated pattern.”
“Sec. Austin has violated his oath of office time and time again, endangering the lives of the American people,” he said in a statement. “He is unfit for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which is why I urge my colleagues to join me in impeaching him to protect the American people.”
Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio, a Democrat, called on Austin to 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,” he wrote on X.
Austin is now the subject of an internal review and has been called to testify before the House Armed Services Committee.
