President Joe Biden was not informed about the hospitalisation of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for several days, US media reported Saturday citing officials.
According to the Politico report, Joe Biden was unaware for three days as Lloyd Austin was admitted to hospital on January 1, including the national security advisor Jake Sullivan and other top White House officials until the Pentagon revealed on January 4.
Pentagon spokesperson Patrick S. Ryder explained the delay Saturday: "It was an evolving situation, in which we had to consider a number of factors, including medical and personal privacy issues."
The 81-year-old President was only informed by his national security advisor with officials ruling out prior knowledge of Biden about the Pentagon chief’s hospitalisation.
"If Jake didn’t know, no way the president knew," one of the officials was quoted as saying, mentioning that "who would have told him of Austin’s condition if not Jake? And if someone did tell the president, Jake would’ve been his first call."
The officials also said that the commander-chief of the US held a "cordial conversation" with Secretary Austin Saturday night.
"The president has complete trust and confidence in Secretary Austin," they noted.
The White House officials were surprised when they were informed after remaining in the dark for days about the hospitalisation of the 70-year-old Pentagon boss who was dealing with complications following an "elective medical procedure".
Other institutions such as Congress were also informed 15 minutes prior to revealing the official public statement until Friday evening.
According to the US media reports, Austin said Saturday: "I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure."
The Pentagon Press Association called the failure to report Austin’s condition and hospitalization "an outrage."
"The public has a right to know when US cabinet members are hospitalised, under anesthesia or when duties are delegated as the result of any medical procedure. That has been the practice even up to the president’s level. As the nation’s top defense leader, Secretary Austin has no claim to privacy in this situation," the group said in a statement Friday.
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