Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin may face a Senate Armed Services Committee investigation over his unexplained health emergency and hospital stay as news of his prostate cancer diagnosis sparks more questions than answers.
Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed in a statement on Tuesday that the defense secretary was diagnosed late last month and “underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer.”
The defense secretary, 70, has been at Walter Reed for over a week, first being transported to the hospital via ambulance on Jan. 1, when he was put in the intensive care unit immediately. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Monday that Austin is no longer in the ICU but still in the hospital.
The hospitalization itself was not controversial, but the lack of transparency around Austin’s condition prompted outcry from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Pentagon officials claimed that Austin had been admitted to the hospital for an elective medical procedure, a term now being questioned with the prostate cancer admission.
President Joe Biden was not informed of Austin’s hospitalization until last Thursday, with the two eventually speaking by phone on Friday evening. White House officials said Tuesday that the president was not informed of the prostate cancer diagnosis “until this morning.” Despite all that, White House officials say the president is not considering removing Austin from the role.
While Austin may not face much pressure from Democrats to resign, the possibility of a congressional investigation grows more likely by the day.
Speaking to the Washington Examiner minutes after the diagnosis was announced, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) pointed out that Austin originally claimed that he was hospitalized to undergo an elective procedure.
“I look at [prostate cancer] differently than what was characterized as a personal elective surgery,” said Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat who also chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Illinois senator added that the Senate Armed Services Committee “is the obvious venue” for a proper investigation into the matter.
“I hope that they’ll provide more facts because they are vitally necessary to understand why there was no disclosure before now and what kind of accountability there will be for that failure,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told the Washington Examiner.
“I think there’s a need for additional factual explanation as to what exactly his medical condition is and why it wasn’t disclosed earlier,” he continued. “Then we probably need to have some fact-finding by the Armed Services Committee and perhaps a hearing.”
Despite the need for answers, Blumenthal said he did not support calls for Austin’s resignation.
“The work we have to do depends a lot on how much information they make available to us,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-MD) told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the Biden administration.
“The first level here is to have a complete understanding of what happened, from the time he was planning to go into the hospital for the procedures to his return,” he added.
Asked by reporters at his weekly leadership press conference about the situation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) replied, “That’ll be up to the Armed Services Committee.”
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Republicans, meanwhile, have been calling for hearings into the matter since the scandal erupted last weekend.
Asked if the prostate cancer diagnosis made the hearings more necessary, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner, “I think so.”
Mike Brest contributed to this report.