President Joe Biden salutes alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before delivering an address at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, May 2021. (Getty/Mandel Ngan/AFP)
Published January 7, 2024
Austin’s job is reportedly safe for now, with Biden having spoken with him by phone on Saturday.
Trump posted, “Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty. 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. He has performed poorly, and should have been dismissed long ago, along with “General” Mark Milley, for many reasons, but in particular the catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our Country!”
Austin had an elective medical procedure on December 22 and was taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland because of severe pain according to a Pentagon statement released Sunday evening to reporters. The statement also said Austin was treated in the ICU and is remaining in the ICU for “privacy” even though he no longer needs that level of care.
Three days after his December 22nd medical procedure, pro-Hamas protesters staged a dawn protest on Christmas Day at Austin’s Falls Church, Virginia home (it is not known if Austin was at home then):
🚨BREAKING! Activists send Xmas morning wake-up call to US Secretary of Defense, @SecDef Lloyd Austin, chanting “AUSTIN, AUSTIN, RISE AND SHINE, NO SLEEP DURING GENOCIDE!” #FreePalestine #ShutItDown4Palestine pic.twitter.com/0Yg9SCFbok
— The People’s Forum (@PeoplesForumNYC) December 25, 2023
Today Palestinian solidarity activists gathered at Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s home to say no Christmas for war criminals! pic.twitter.com/vSovmBnqEp
— DC Young Communist League (@DC_YCL) December 25, 2023
Politico reported on Biden’s phone call with Austin and why his job is considered safe (excerpt):
…Still, Biden held a “cordial conversation” with his defense secretary on Saturday night, per one of the U.S. officials. “The president has complete trust and confidence in Secretary Austin,” the official said. A National Security Council spokesperson echoed that sentiment, noting Biden “is looking forward to [Austin] getting back to the Pentagon.”
Four officials said Austin’s job seemed secure for the moment, especially after the phone call with Biden. They argued that it was a rare blemish in an otherwise strong tenure, namely cajoling Western nations to send advanced weapons to Ukraine, though Austin critics note he oversaw the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The officials also noted that it was an election year, that Biden and Austin are very close due to the former general’s friendship with the president’s late son Beau Biden — they attended Catholic services while serving in Iraq — and that it would be hard to get another Defense secretary confirmed by the Senate.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.thegatewaypundit.com
RELATED: Joint Chiefs Chairman Knew Austin Was Hospitalized and Didn’t Tell the White House or the Service Chiefs
Published January 7, 2024
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C. Q. Brown was informed the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized Tuesday but agreed to maintain the charade that Austin was working at home. Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico, was asked to assume some of Austin’s duties, but she didn’t know he was in the hospital until Thursday.
I’d thought my duty to write about this fiasco had come to an end with my last update, but I was wrong.
Friday night, it was reported that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had not informed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that he was in the ICU at Walter Reed National Medical Center due to “complications” from a yet undefined “elective medical procedure.” It fell to Sullivan to inform Biden that his secretary of Defense had been AWOL for four days while the SedDef’s staff lied that Austin was hiking the Appalachian Trail working from home.
This newest update sheds some additional light on this colossal clusterf**k.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman was notified sometime on Tuesday that Austin was hospitalized.
Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown was not informed of Austin’s situation until Tuesday, the day after his hospitalization, a senior Defense Department official told POLITICO on Sunday.
We don’t know if General Brown knew the severity of Austin’s condition. I can’t imagine him getting the phone call telling him Austin was in the hospital without asking what was wrong. Due to the total lack of integrity in Austin’s immediate office, we can’t be sure what Brown knew. What we do know is that he seems to have been sworn to secrecy. He didn’t tell Biden or Sullivan. I would contend that as under federal law, Brown is designated as the top military adviser to the president, he had a legal, moral, and ethical obligation to inform the White House that the chain of command, including the ability to respond to a nuclear attack, had been broken. The service chiefs were only informed two hours before the public announcement on Friday. That’s late, but better than the treatment meted out to Congress, which was notified 15 minutes before the world.
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
RELATED: Republicans Demand Answers from the Pentagon After It Hid Austin’s Hospitalization
Published January 7, 2024
Republicans are demanding answers from the Department of Defense after learning about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization that was kept hidden for days.
GOP lawmakers are calling on Austin to testify or even be ousted from his position over reports that the Pentagon waited several days to inform top officials that the Biden staffer was in the hospital.
Late Friday, the Pentagon announced that Austin had been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center beginning Monday and finally returning to his duties on Friday. According to reports, the White House was unaware of Austin’s condition.
Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), called the lack of transparency from the department “unacceptable.”
“We are learning more every hour about the Department’s shocking defiance of the law. When one of the country’s two National Command Authorities is unable to perform their duties, military families, Members of Congress, and the American public deserve to know the full extent of the circumstances. This episode further erodes trust in the Biden Administration, which has repeatedly failed to inform the public in a timely fashion about critical events such as the Chinese spy balloon and the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Wicker said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) demanded immediate consequences, given that Austin was hospitalized and unable to perform his duties for an extended period without anyone being notified.
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SOURCE: www.townhall.com
