White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zaients is reportedly starting a review of Cabinet delegation procedures after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hid his emergency hospitalization from President Joe Biden for several days last week.
Axios first obtained a memo outlining the parameters of the review. report It was announced Tuesday that the Pentagon is under increasing pressure from lawmakers to explain why it hid the Jan. 1 hospitalization from members of Congress, Biden and White House officials.
White House officials insist that Biden has full confidence in Austin, and defense officials say Austin has no plans to resign, but the president's chief of staff has said that he has no plans to resign. Efforts are being made to ensure it does not happen again, the report said.
Zients has asked all cabinet secretaries to submit a protocol on devolution of powers by January 12.
Pentagon officials maintain that either Austin or Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was in charge at any given time, but there was a time when Austin delegated responsibility to Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time. ) is opaque.
Zients' review comes after the Pentagon announced it would conduct its own investigation into what happened.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon revealed that Mr. Austin underwent surgery for prostate cancer on Dec. 22, 2023, but did not tell Mr. Biden about it until Tuesday.
The Pentagon initially claimed it was an “elective procedure.”
According to the Pentagon, Austin suffered complications from that surgery and was taken to the hospital by ambulance from his home on January 1, but did not hand over some of his responsibilities to Hicks until the next day.
Mr. Austin reportedly did not inform Mr. Biden or Mr. Hicks about his hospitalization until January 4. Hicks reportedly had plans to return to D.C., but decided to remain in Puerto Rico after the public was notified on Jan. 5, when Austin assumed full duties.
According to the Pentagon, Austin's chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, was notified of Austin's hospitalization on January 2, but the notification was delayed because he was out with the flu.
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