Pentagon drops Friday news bomb: Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin was admitted to Walter Reed on Monday

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday evening, the Pentagon announced on Friday.

"On the evening of January 1, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for complications following a recent elective medical procedure. He is recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today. At all times, the Deputy Secretary of Defense was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required," Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement which did not divulge what procedure the cabinet official had undergone.

The Pentagon Press Association called it an "outrage" that the information had been concealed.

"The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage," a PPA letter to Ryder and assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs Chris Meagher reads. "The public has a right to know when U.S. Cabinet members are hospitalized, under anesthesia or when duties are delegated as the result of any medical procedure."

Austin has previously promoted climate alarmism. In a 2021 statement, he claimed, "Climate change is an existential threat to our nation's security, and the Department of Defense must act swiftly and boldly to take on this challenge and prepare for damage that cannot be avoided."

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