Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, under fire from Capitol Hill for not disclosing to the White House his hospital stay for prostate cancer, told reporters Thursday, “We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right. I should have told the President about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility.”
Austin, in his first Pentagon press briefing in more than a year, appeared thin and walked with a slow gait as approached the podium and said he was recovering and working with a physical therapist. He said he was a private person and did not want to burden Biden with his diagnosis, saying he later apologized to President Biden and does not plan to resign
“I’ve told him that I’m deeply sorry for not letting him know immediately that I received a heavy diagnosis and was getting treatment,” Austin, 70, said. “And he responded with a grace and warm heart that anyone who knows President Biden would expect.
Austin’s hospitalization and diagnosis with prostate cancer in early December. He was hospitalized for the procedure on Dec. 22, and the next day he transferred his authority to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks. But neither Biden nor Hicks was aware he was in the hospital, or that he returned on New Year’s Day with complications. It was not until several days later that Biden learned he was in the hospital, and another week before the president was made aware of Austin’s cancer treatment.
But Austin did not answer a repeated question about whether any staff members knew of his hospitalization on Dec. 22 and if so, why didn’t they tell the White House. His chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, who would normally inform her White House counterpart, was sick with the flu at the time. She was not seated among the staff at the Pentagon Thursday, though she would normally be in attendance.