Health issues have plagued the Biden administration in recent months. And now it’s all coming to a head.
Because a sudden hospitalization has the White House sounding the alarm.
On Sunday evening the Pentagon made a statement announcing the hospitalization of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Austin was in the hospital earlier this year after having complications that resulted from treatment for prostate cancer.
He came under controversy for that hospital stay due to the fact that he kept it a secret for several days.
This time, he and the Pentagon have publicized his hospitalization thanks to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. General Pat Ryder:
Today, at approximately 2:20 pm, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was transported by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue. The Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been notified. Additionally, White House and Congressional notifications have occurred.
Ryder’s statement also added that Austin will continue with his duties “at this time.”
“At this time, the Secretary is retaining the functions and duties of his office. The Deputy Secretary is prepared to assume the functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense, if required,” Ryder said.
“Secretary Austin traveled to the hospital with the unclassified and classified communications systems necessary to perform his duties.”
Austin and the Pentagon are being much more transparent with this situation than they were the last time he was hospitalized.
The U.S. Military currently has soldiers over seas who are targets in the Middle East.
By keeping his last hospital stay a secret back in January, those soliders were more at risk since there was so much chaos back home to determine why the defense secretary was missing from duty. That’s also not to mention Austin’s leadership was absent as well.
This of course caused both Democrats and Republicans to call for the resignation of Austin.
President Joe Biden however has said he has no intentions of firing Austin for his secret hospital stay.
The House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) has asked Austin to testify in front of Congress later this month for his failures to properly disclose his medical emergency earlier this year.
Thankfully though, the Pentagon is taking the correct steps to update the public and the White House on Austin’s current condition.
“We will provide an update on Secretary Austin’s condition as soon as possible,” Ryder said in his statement.
If only this is how things went the first time Austin had an emergency hospital visit.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
