CV NEWS FEED // A U.S. congressman announced an impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after the Biden administration official became embroiled in significant controversy following an alleged “secretive” hospital stay.
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-MT, on Tuesday introduced articles of impeachment against Austin.
“Sec. Austin has violated his oath of office time and time again, and has jeopardized the lives of the American people,” the lawmaker stated in a press release the day before.
Rosendale said that the Pentagon chief “knowingly put the American people in danger and compromised our national security” when he “repeatedly” lied about a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy balloon that flew over his district in early 2023.
“This dishonesty seems to be a repeated pattern for the Secretary as he once again lied to our military and the American people about his health last week,” Rosendale wrote.
He also cited Austin’s involvement in the “Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan which led to the death of 13 American soldiers.”
“Sec. Austin 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,” Rosendale emphasized.
‘Secret’ Hospital Stay
POLITICO reported Saturday that the Pentagon “did not tell President Joe Biden and other top officials about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization for three days.”
“National security adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior White House aides didn’t know of Austin’s Jan. 1 hospitalization until the Defense Department sent over word Jan. 4, two other U.S. officials said,” POLITICO continued. “Sullivan informed Biden shortly after DOD’s Thursday notification.”
“Neither the Pentagon nor Austin has provided any details about why he was in the hospital or what medical procedure he had,” USA Today White House Correspondent Michael Collins and USA Today Pentagon Correspondent Tom Vanden Brook had noted on Monday.
“The White House promised on President Joe Biden’s first day in office that the new administration would bring transparency and trust back to government,” Collins and Vanden Brook wrote.
“But the secrecy surrounding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization is casting doubt on whether the administration is living up to that promise,” they added:
Austin’s decision to keep his hospitalization and serious illness a secret, even from the White House and his top deputy, has whipped up a political firestorm that officials say has damaged the Pentagon’s credibility and raised questions about the administration’s commitment to transparency.
“Heads have to roll,” said Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and expert in crisis communications who worked in the White House under President Barack Obama. “This is not a minor miscommunication. It’s about the confidence that our national security structure has in its leadership and that the leadership is acting in a transparent way.”
After days of speculation, Walter Reed Medical Center finally revealed on Tuesday that Austin’s cause of hospitalization was a urinary tract infection (UTI) following complications of prostate cancer treatment last month.
The Daily Wire reported:
On December 22, 2023, Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and “underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer.”
Austin was discharged from the hospital and went home the following morning.
A Tuesday press release from Walter Reed officials explained: “On January 1st, 2024, Secretary Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with complications from the December 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain.”
“Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection,” the release added. “On January 2, the decision was made to transfer him to the ICU for close monitoring and a higher level of care.”
Dereliction of Duty?
Former president and current White House candidate Donald Trump chimed in on the apparent mystery surrounding Austin’s whereabouts the day before Rosendale announced his articles of impeachment.
“Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. “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.”
Trump, like Rosendale, also referred to Austin’s involvement in “the catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan,” which the former president went on to call “perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our Country!”
Heritage Foundation Vice President Victoria Coates posed several questions for the Biden administration in a Monday Daily Signal piece titled “The Bizarre Case of a Missing Defense Secretary.”
“Why did Austin not tell more people about his hospitalization than [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. C.Q.] Brown and his chief of staff?” she asked:
He is a Cabinet secretary at a time of two wars, in Europe and the Mideast. Why did he not tell the National Security Council or the relevant combatant commanders?
If Austin was in intensive care on Jan. 1, why did the deputy secretary not assume the responsibilities of acting secretary until the afternoon of Jan. 2? And why was she not told he was in the hospital until Jan. 4?
“While we wish Austin a full and speedy recovery, the fact of the matter is that had anyone else in any other organization been so derelict in his or her responsibilities for the organization they lead, they would have been fired,” added Coates, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle East and North African Affairs during the Trump administration.
“But as is the case with the failures in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Israel, it appears no one will be held accountable, and the American people are less safe for it,” she indicated.
Austin Responds
On Saturday, Austin issued a response to the controversy surrounding his hospital stay.
“I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon,” he stated via a Department of Defense press release:
I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.
But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.
Austin has served as Secretary of Defense since January 2021 – essentially for Biden’s entire presidency. The Senate voted 93-2 to confirm him. The sole “no” votes were cast by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-MO, and Mike Lee, R-UT.
Previously, Austin served in the Army for over 40 years before retiring in 2016. He was promoted to the rank of four-star general in 2010.
Although the secretary is a self-professed Catholic, the Department of Defense has consistently supported pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ policies under his leadership.
Austin oversaw the implementation of the Pentagon’s current policy authorizing the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for female service members’ abortions. Pro-life Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, protested this policy for nearly ten months last year.
