President Joe Biden is not considering firing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he failed to tell the White House about his hospitalization for three days, a White House official told Fwrd Axis News.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday that Biden has full confidence in Austin and would stay in the job, adding the President “respects the fact that Secretary Austin took ownership for the lack of transparency”.
“There is no — no plans for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continuing the leadership that … he’s been demonstrating,” Kirby added.
The news comes after the Pentagon revealed over the weekend that Austin had been hospitalized since last Monday following complications from a previous surgery. Biden was not made aware of the situation until Thursday when he was informed by National security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The Pentagon has said that Austin has no plans to resign.
“He remains focused on conducting his duties as secretary of Defense in defense of our nation,” DOD spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters.
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have called for Austin to be fired and want to conduct an investigation into the Department of Defense as a response to the news.
Austin released a statement on Saturday taking responsibility for not disclosing his condition sooner.
“I am very glad to be on the mend and look forward to returning to the Pentagon soon. 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,” Austin said.
It remains unclear what the procedure was or what complications Austin had followed the procedure. The 70-year-old was not able to perform his duties since New Year’s Day, a senior defense official said Friday.
Senior administration officials were caught off guard, shocked by the news that Austin was in the hospital. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was on leave, took over Austin’s duties, the U.S. official said.
On Monday, the White House did not comment on Austin’s condition, only saying he is getting better.
“I don’t want to get into into any any specifics on that,” White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre said. “And it’s really for Secretary Austin and Department of Defense to speak.”
