US President Joe Biden is not considering firing Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin over his failure to disclose a hospitalisation for days, the White House said on Monday, as prominent Republicans called for the Pentagon chief to be removed.
“There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters.
“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 on Truth Social.
Another prominent Republican in Congress also called for Austin’s resignation on Monday.
“There must be full accountability beginning with the immediate resignation of Secretary Austin and those that lied for him and a Congressional investigation into this dangerous dereliction of duty,” Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman and House Republican Conference chairwoman said.
Asked whether Austin had been unconscious at all since January 1, and whether the White House had been informed about that, a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he did not know.
Why was US defence chief’s hospital stay kept secret for days?
Why was US defence chief’s hospital stay kept secret for days?
Officials disclosed on Sunday that Austin’s hospitalisation was kept far more secret than previously known, adding his deputy to a long list of people right up to Biden who were kept in the dark for days.
Austin’s duties require him to be available at a moment’s notice to respond to any national security crisis. He said on Saturday that he took “full responsibility” for the secrecy over his hospitalisation.
What health issue spurred Austin’s hospitalisation is unknown. Kirby said he did not have that information, but that Biden and Austin had talked in recent days.