The Pentagon has said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does not plan to offer the president his resignation, and several Biden administration officials said he wouldn't accept it anyway. Austin is in hot water for not telling a long list of people who might need to know that he was checking into a hospital, including President Biden. But Austin's boss doesn't intend to fire him or push him out of his job, Politico reports. "Austin's going nowhere," a senior administration official says.
Still, Biden was irked by the episode, as were White House aides. Austin issued a statement Saturday accepting responsibility for the breakdown. On Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the president "respects the fact that Secretary Austin took ownership for the lack of transparency." Kirby, too, said Austin will remain in his job. While everyone outside the Pentagon was shut out, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr., was told the day after Austin was admitted, per ABC News.
Something similar happened last month, Reuters reports. The chief Pentagon spokesperson said that Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and stayed overnight for an elective procedure. In that case, Austin also transferred some of his authority to deputy defense chief Kathleen Hicks, Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said. White House officials weren't told about that stay, either. In both cases, no one has said what the medical issue was. Austin is out of intensive care but still in the hospital, the Pentagon said. (More Lloyd Austin stories.)
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