Republican proposes to impeach defense secretary

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., on Tuesday said he was planning to file articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Austin did not notify key national security officials that he was hospitalized in an intensive care unit last week. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday that President Joe Biden and national security adviser Jake Sullivan didn’t receive notice that Austin was unavailable until days after he’d entered the hospital. In his written statement, Rosendale also criticized Austin’s handling of last year’s Chinese surveillance balloon incident, saying that the balloon flew over an Air Force base in Montana that houses intercontinental ballistic missiles. Other top Republicans have called for Austin to be removed.

What was Austin in the hospital for? Doctors from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said on Tuesday that Austin had prostate cancer and had received treatment late in December. Days later, he began suffering severe leg, abdominal, and hip pain along with nausea. He returned to the hospital on Jan. 1, where physicians treated him for a urinary tract infection. Austin has acknowledged that he could have communicated better and is committed to doing so in the future. The White House has said it will investigate the policies and procedures for notifying officials in instances like this, saying Austin will not lose his job. The Pentagon has said it will conduct an investigation, as well.

Dig deeper: Read Daniel R. Suhr’s column in WORLD Opinions about Austin’s absence and what it means.