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defense secretary, lloyd austin, is a private person. the decision to treat prostate cancer is a private decision. this is not an average citizen. is the defense secretary of the united states. privacy simply isn't there. why isn't it that president joe biden did not know? his secretary should have been in the hospital. deputy secretary of defense didn't know for days. there is also a question about whether anyone knew that he was under general anesthesia on december 22nd. he was initially treated with a minimally invasive surgery. four prostate cancer treatments. he spent the night in the hospital. that too, was a major question that has yet to be answered. the pentagon has initiated a 30 day review of the notification procedures. they say with chief of staff, they are passing on the notification to others. she had the flu as the answer or excuse. still, senior military advisers knew that.
16 years. i have never seen anything like this. what are national security officials you're talking to saying? >> well, look, phil. the words that are being tossed around a lot at this moment are unforced error. all of this really could have been avoided, officials say if the pentagon had just disclosed within 24 hours that the secretary had been hospitalized on january 1st. what we know at this point is that for days the u.s. -- the pentagon did not inform even his deputy secretary of defense just why she was taking over his responsibilities, and we should remind viewers that she was actually in puerto rico at the time. she was not even in washington, d.c. when she was told that she would have to be assuming some of his responsibilities in order to continue secure communications and maintain operational readiness, and just on thursday, about four days after he was admitted to the hospital, that is when she was finally told that he was hospitalized, and so this is
he took full responsibility for not disclosing his medical condition saying he understands the concerns about transparency and, quote, could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. austin's still in the hospital, but the pentagon said he resumed his duties remotely friday evening and is recovering well. joining us now pentagon reporter if "politico" lara seligman. they broke the story that not only he was hospitalized but that i didn't tell the white house for days. president biden was kept in the dark. tell me about the fallout. are there calls for austin's job and what is the reaction from the white house. >> well, jonathan, secretary austin has landed himself in hot water after this january 1st hospitalization. as you said, he kept this news from the american public, from congress, from his closest providers, even deputy secretary of defense kathleen hicks did
didn't know he was innocent charge, but they didn't know that he may have been very ill. as you said in that intro, he was in that intensive care unit for at least part of his stay. as far as we know, he's still in the hospital now. he had this elective procedure on december 22nd that required an overnight stay at walter reed. we still don't know what that was. we do know about a week later he was experiencing extreme, severe pain and was taken to the hospital. that was a week ago, ana. he remains there. still more questions than answers, including why is it that deputy secretary of defense kathleen hicks was notified she would have to assume some of his duties? why that is critical is two days later on thursday, when she was notified he was in the hospital, he started making plans to come back to d.c. it indicates some of the potential urgency that she felt she needed to return to d.c. why wasn't she told 48 hours
friday, when all week long, we were told that secretary austin was on leave and no one really had any idea that he was hospitalized all week long. let alone that he was in the icu. in fact, it took us digging to expose that fact, that he was not just in the hospital but that he was in intensive care. now, we still don't know what this elective medical procedure is, and, frankly, we don't know how severe his situation, his medical case was at any point during this hospitalization. what we know is that on tuesday, this is now january 2nd, all of his responsibilities were transferred to deputy secretary of defense kathleen hicks. she was on vacation in puerto rico at the time. she was not told why she was assuming the responsibilities of the secretary until two days later on thursday. according to a defense official, as soon as she was told that, she started making plans to come back to the u.s. but was told, "oh, it is okay, he is going to resume his duties soon so don't
>> i think in ordinary circumstances, it would be his chief of staff who had the responsibility to convey the message to the white house. but also to others in the chain of command. in this case, i guess she was not capable at all of doing so. the question is who else within his inner sanction was able to do that? i do not think all the details have come out. when you lay out the timeline, somebody informed the chairman of the joint chief of staff on january 2nd. why didn't that same person inform the deputy secretary of defense who is the second in command, who should have known because chain of control. it calls into some question about the relationship and who did what. who was in power, not empowered to make notifications. >> is the protocol clear? is it pretty clear here? >> it was during my tenure.
combat pay. president biden was flipping in the caribbean for multiple endth vacation, the secretary deputy secretary of defense who took over the reigns from secretary austin was on vacation in puerto rico. president biden did not notice. think about yourself, my executive producer and people know where i am, i am in constant communication with them. if they stopped hearing from me, they would know within a few minutes, or inquire. the two-way street information, fact it was paused on both ends is problematic for no one to notice. does he not,a semble communication both ways? >> kayleigh: for anyone questioning who is in control in the white house and whether truly the president, this does little to shore up your wonders. supreme court will take up
strikes, but they are focused on hamas right now into gaza and that will be the primary they are going to work on, and it's going to go for a while. here is the concern i have, you mentioned earlier, where is the end state? i know the president can talk about withdrawing or getting the israelis to withdraw, what is the end state to this and nobody seems to be able to tell anybody how does this thing end? >> sandra: quickly, general, a final thought on the secrecy of the defense secretary hospitalization as the white house was left in the dark. thought on that. >> this is really bad, this is really bad process by the pentagon. the national command authorities civilian control of the military, goes from the president, secretary of defense, to the commander. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has no involvement. so when you get somebody like that out there that has to have command and control, who is giving the orders? deputy secretary of defense did not know about it, how were the orders being processed, attacks
notified of the chain of command. >> reporter: pentagon or knowledge of the chairman of the joint chiefs, austen's staff, and spokesman all-new on januard been hospitalized. but waited for two more days before telling the white house. austin had been at home recovering from an elective medical procedure when he started expressing severe pain and was rushed to walter reed and admitted to the icu. >> you have for all intents and purposes a break in the chain of command. >> reporter: former secretary of former secretary of defense mark esper. speaker of the secretary of defense has been taken to the hospital in an ambulance, it see you'd give somebody the right has a heads up. >> reporter: authority was transferred to the deputy secretary of defense but again, no one told the white house. with austin still in the icu, a u.s. drone carried out a strike approved by the president three days earlier. only then did austin's chief of staff finally notify the white house of his condition. another day went by before
intensity carry unit, i remain concerned that a vital chain of command and notification procedures were not followed while secretary of defense austin was under medical care. this lack of disclosure must never happen again this, of course, following that the nation's top defense official had elective surgery on december 22nd. we still don't know for what and then he went home the next day and then was rushed to the intensive care unit on january 1st after experiencing complications. for three days after that essentially no one knew that the secretary of defense of the biggest military in the world was hospitalized. the public didn't know. president biden didn't know. senior national security officials didn't even know. not even the deputy secretary of defense knew and she temporarily took over his job while she was on vacation in puerto rico. in fact, the pentagon never even told the white house or deputy austin's initial medical procedure back in december.