Austin agrees to testify at House hearing on his secret hospitalization

“He had a date battle, however he’s going to provide us one other date,” Rogers mentioned of Austin in a quick interview.

The listening to is bound to be contentious. Some Republicans have argued Austin ought to lose his job over the episode, wherein the Pentagon chief was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for problems from an earlier surgical procedure to deal with prostate most cancers. However the White Home was not knowledgeable for 3 days regardless of authority being transferred to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks.

In a letter final month, Rogers argued the general public airing is important as a result of Austin didn’t “present candid and full solutions” to a sequence of written questions the panel posed in regards to the timeline of his hospitalization and switch of obligations. Armed Companies additionally despatched inquiries to Hicks and Austin’s chief of employees, Kelly Magsamen, in regards to the occasions.

In his first public look since returning to work on the Pentagon, Austin final week
apologized for his dealing with of his most cancers analysis and subsequent hospital keep.

“We didn’t deal with this proper. I didn’t deal with this proper,” Austin mentioned throughout a Feb. 1 press convention.