Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), an Iraq War veteran, on Wednesday called for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to resign over Austin’s lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment.
In a written statement, Deluzio said:
I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austin’s leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command. I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee. That duty today requires me to call on Secretary Austin to resign.
“I thank Secretary Austin for his leadership and years of dedicated service to the American people and wish him a speedy recovery,” he added.
The controversy over Austin has developed as President Joe Biden just learned on Tuesday that the secretary was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery.
Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong reported:
Austin’s failure to tell his boss about his cancer diagnosis and treatment has called into question Biden’s awareness of the whereabouts of his own defense secretary, particularly when the U.S. military is supporting Israel and Ukraine in the midst of hot wars, U.S. troops are being targeted nearly every day in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed proxy militia, and U.S. warships and commercial vessels are facing barrages of attacks in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels.
Members of Congress — both Republicans and Democrats — are furious about the breakdown in communication between Biden and Austin, noting that they are the only two members given National Command Authority, or the ability to transmit lawful orders to the military, at such a fraught time.
Deluzio represents the 17th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, a swing state. He is the first Democrat in either chamber of Congress to call on Austin to resign.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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