© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: US Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin attends a welcome ceremony earlier than an annual safety assembly with South Korean Defence Minister Shin Gained-sik on the Defence Ministry in Seoul, South Korea on November 13, 2023. JUNG YEON-JE/Pool by way of REUTERS
By Steve Holland, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden didn’t study that his protection secretary, Lloyd Austin, had prostate most cancers till Tuesday, the White Home mentioned, minutes after it was disclosed to the general public together with an an infection that was additionally saved beneath wraps.
Austin, who’s 70, has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 at Walter Reed Nationwide Navy Medical Heart — a incontrovertible fact that the Pentagon had saved from the general public, the White Home and Congress for a lot of final week, triggering a serious political backlash.
Austin’s personal deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was additionally saved at midnight for days, even after she was advised throughout a trip in Puerto Rico to imagine a few of his duties on Jan. 2.
“He (Biden) was not knowledgeable till final (Thursday) that Secretary Austin was within the hospital. He was not knowledgeable till this morning that the foundation reason behind that hospitalization was prostate most cancers,” White Home spokesperson John Kirby (NYSE:) mentioned.
“No one on the White Home knew that Secretary Austin had prostate most cancers till this morning, and the president was knowledgeable instantly after.”
Austin and Biden spoke on Saturday and it was unclear why Biden didn’t study till Tuesday about Austin’s prostate most cancers.
Austin was taken by ambulance on Jan. 1 to Walter Reed after struggling problems from his Dec. 22 prostate most cancers therapy, together with nausea with extreme stomach, hip, and leg ache. After he was identified with a urinary tract an infection, Austin was moved on Jan. 2 to an intensive care unit.
“Additional analysis revealed stomach fluid collections impairing the perform of his small intestines. This resulted within the again up of his intestinal contents which was handled by putting a tube by way of his nostril to empty his abdomen,” the hospital mentioned.
Austin’s prostate most cancers therapy on Dec. 22 required Austin go beneath common anesthesia, however he has retained consciousness throughout his newest go to, in keeping with an announcement from Walter Reed.
Walter Reed gave an upbeat outlook for Austin however cautioned that his restoration might take time.
“His an infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full restoration though this could be a sluggish course of,” it mentioned in an announcement launched by the Pentagon.
Austin, who’s 70, sits slightly below Biden on the high of the U.S. army’s chain of command, and his duties require him to be obtainable at a second’s discover to answer any nationwide safety disaster.
That features all the time being able to enter safe communications with different officers within the occasion of an incoming nuclear assault, one thing that might be troublesome from an ICU mattress.
The Walter Reed assertion was signed by Dr. John Maddox, Trauma Medical Director, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, Heart for Prostate Illness Analysis of the Murtha Most cancers Heart Director at Walter Reed.
Biden’s administration has struggled to quiet the political furor that has erupted following revelations that the president, who’s working for re-election, didn’t know of his protection secretary’s Jan. 1 hospitalization till Jan. 4.
The Pentagon initially mentioned Austin’s December therapy was for an elective medical process. It was not clear how prostate most cancers therapy could be thought-about elective.
Some distinguished Republicans, together with Donald Trump, referred to as for Austin to be faraway from his job.
However the Pentagon mentioned the retired four-star common had no plans to resign and the White Home mentioned Biden was not looking for to take away him. Austin stays at Walter Reed.
“The secretary continues to stay targeted on recovering however extra importantly, on finishing up his duties as secretary of protection and defending the nation,” Air Power Main Common Patrick Ryder advised a information briefing.
The best way the Protection Division dealt with Austin’s hospitalization stands in distinction to how the State Division handled then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s prostate surgical procedure on Dec. 15, 2003.
The State Division spokesperson at the moment issued an announcement within the morning making public that Powell, a retired four-star common and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, was in surgical procedure at Walter Reed and would stay there for a number of days.
It additionally disclosed Powell could be on a lowered schedule whereas he recovered from the operation. The division’s spokesperson on the time, Richard Boucher, then provided particulars on Powell’s surgical procedure in his every day briefing.
Ryder mentioned the Pentagon would do higher because the White Home acknowledged harm to its credibility.
“I believe the Pentagon has been very, very sincere with themselves concerning the, the problem to credibility by what by what has transpired right here and by what and by how exhausting it was for them to be absolutely clear with the American folks,” Kirby mentioned.
