Former President Donald Trump recently called on President Joe Biden to dismiss Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin from his administration for delaying an announcement regarding his hospitalization.
Austin was secretly admitted into a hospital on Dec. 22, 2023, saying that he had a medical procedure. The defense secretary was later transferred into intensive care on Jan. 1, 2024, as he began experiencing severe pain.
Austin failed to report his hospitalization when it took place, leading Trump to call for the defense secretary to be fired.
On Truth Social, the former president blasted Austin for “improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty.”
Trump says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should be 'fired immediately' for dereliction of duty after mysterious ICU stint that was kept hidden from the White House https://t.co/kjTXUnVgJ0
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) January 8, 2024
“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,” Trump wrote.
“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,” the former president added.
Breitbart News reported that Austin failed to disclose his hospital visit to the president, the national security adviser, members of Congress, and the public.
Considering that Austin’s hospitalization was kept in the dark, concerns grew as to how the president did not know his secretary of defense was partially incapacitated for days on end, especially during a time when the U.S. Navy faced off against Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea as the war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization, heats up.
On Jan. 4, 2024, the U.S. warned the Houthis against targeting U.S. military ships in the Red Sea. On this day, the U.S. conducted a drone strike that killed an Iran-backed militia leader in Iraq.
Austin recently issued a statement admitting that he could have done a “better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed” about his hospitalization.
“I commit to doing better,” the defense secretary said. “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”
