Photo: Global Look Press/Alexander Kubitz
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on 7 January that he knew nothing about the hospitalization of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.
"I was not aware of his (Austin's) health problems," he said during a press conference with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani.
As Blinken noted, he spoke with Austin last weekend. He is now looking forward to getting fully healed and being able to "work side by side."
Earlier, former US Vice President Mike Pence called Austin's secret hospitalization unacceptable because US citizens have a right to know what is going on. He also accused the Pentagon chief of negligence and pointed out that even the country's President Joe Biden did not know about the hospitalisation of the US Defence Secretary.
The day before, NBC reported that Austin spent four days in intensive care. It should be noted that in his absence, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was performing the duties of the Pentagon chief.
Also, Politico reported that the Pentagon did not inform the White House of Austin's hospitalization for three days. It said the information about the Pentagon chief's hospitalization was "a shock to all White House staffers" who were unaware of Austin's complications from the medical procedure. Yet the US Congress was informed of the US defence secretary's illness 15 minutes before the Pentagon's press release.
Austin himself admitted that the Pentagon should have informed the media and the public earlier about his hospitalization.
American journalist and Newsmax host Todd Starnes commented on Austin's hospitalization on January 5 and wondered why this information was not made public until five days later.
The Pentagon chief was hospitalized Jan. 1 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with complications from a routine medical procedure.
Izvestia/gn.cz/JaV_07
https://iz.ru/1631091/2024-01-07/blinken-ne-znal-o-gospitalizatcii-shefa-pentagona
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