Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will appear before members of Congress on Thursday to answer questions about him a delay lasting days Briefing President Joe Biden and lawmakers about him was admitted to a secret hospital after a cancer diagnosis.
Austin is expected to face intense scrutiny when he appears before the House Armed Services Committee. There were several Republican legislators He called on Austin to resign on the event.
Speaker Mike Rogers, R-Ala., last month launched an investigation into Austin’s failure to disclose his hospitalization. demanded his statement on the issue. In letters to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, Rogers asked for details such as any medical sedation or general anesthesia Austin received, instructions not to tell people he was hospitalized, and any official actions he took during the operation. hospitalization.
He is the chief inspector of the Ministry of Defense conducting an internal audit to the matter.
Austin apologized for failing to properly manage his cancer diagnosis and hospitalization.
“I want to be crystal clear. We didn’t manage it properly. And I didn’t manage that right,” Austin said at a Pentagon news conference this month.
“I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. “I apologize to my teammates and the American people,” he said.
Austin was later was placed in the intensive care unit Hicks was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center due to bladder problems. The White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Congress were immediately informed of the hospitalization. It was Austin was discharged from the hospital day later.
Walter Reed’s trauma medical director, Dr. John Maddox and the director of the prostate cancer research center of the hospital’s cancer center, Dr. Gregory Chesnut said in a joint statement that Austin’s treatment for a bladder problem had been corrected. surgically, it was not associated with a previous cancer diagnosis “and it would have no effect on the excellent cancer prognosis”.
On Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee received a closed-door briefing from the Department of Defense on the results of a 30-day investigation into the process of transferring functions and responsibilities of the secretary of defense.
Courtney Kube, Rebecca Kaplan, Mosheh Wins and Frank Thorpe W contributed.