OAN’s James Myers
12:15pm – Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has formally agreed to testify before Congress to answer questions about his failure to report hospitalizations.
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Austin is scheduled to appear before the House Armed Services Committee on February 29th.thsaid commission spokesperson Justin Tripati. NBC News.
Meanwhile, last week, the defense secretary returned to the Pentagon for the first time since his hospitalization and apologized for failing to properly handle communications.
“I want to be transparent. We didn’t take care of this right, and I didn’t take care of this right,” Austin told reporters. “I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have told my team and the American people, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and the American people.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) suggested that Mr. Austin attend next week, but Mr. Austin said his schedule would make that impossible.
“He had a scheduling conflict, but I’m sure he’ll offer us another date,” Rodgers said of Austin in a brief interview.
The 70-year-old was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on January 1st.cent After developing a urinary tract infection on Dec. 22 due to complications related to prostate cancer surgery.n.d..
But senior military officials, including President Joe Biden, were not informed of his condition until days later. Additionally, they were not informed of his cancer diagnosis until January 9th.thIt’s been about a month since the illness was discovered.
The fiasco prompted several Republicans to call on Austin to resign. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) called the delay “unacceptable” and called it a “shocking violation of the law” on behalf of the Pentagon.
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