Not a week goes by in which the “adults” running the Biden administration don’t thoroughly humiliate themselves for the world to see. The latest fiasco involving multiple White House brass knowing nothing about the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for days is no different. But no worries: The White House says it’s not going to sack Austin over the incident.
Following a week of secrecy, Americans and members of Congress were informed over the weekend that the country’s second-highest-ranking military official has been hospitalized since Jan. 1. According to The Guardian, the defense secretary was admitted to Walter Reed’s intensive care unit after “experiencing severe pain,” with the Pentagon confirming the admission came as a result of “complications following a recent elective medical procedure.”
The agency has not revealed what specific medical problems Austin is facing. It also wasn’t just the American public who was kept in the dark about Austin’s hospitalization.
In the days since he went MIA, it’s been reported that leading administration figures, including President Joe Biden, were unaware that Austin had been admitted to intensive care until Thursday. That’s the same day Austin’s second-in-command, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks — who was vacationing in Puerto Rico at the time — was informed of the situation.
Unbeknownst to Hicks, Austin had transferred her “certain operational responsibilities that require constant secure communications capabilities” on Tuesday. By the time she began preparing to return to Washington, D.C. on Friday, the Pentagon informed Hicks that Austin “was
