(Headline USA) House Republicans are moving to impeach Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over his failure to notify officials of his emergency hospitalization last week, The Hill reported.
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., said on Monday that he will introduce articles of impeachment against Austin on Tuesday, accusing the secretary of “violat[ing] his oath of office” not just last week, but on multiple occasions.
Rosendale cited as other examples of Austin’s negligence the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the ongoing border crisis and last year’s incident with a Chinese spy balloon floating over military sites.
“Sec. Austin knowingly put the American people in danger and compromised our national security when he allowed a spy balloon from a foreign adversary to fly over Malmstrom Air Force Base—home to ICBMs—and allowed the Chinese Communist Party to gather intel on American citizens,” Rosendale explained in a statement.
“This dishonesty seems to be a repeated pattern for the Secretary as he once again lied to our military and the American people about his health last week,” he added.
Austin was incapacitated in the intensive-care unit for days after undergoing an elective surgical procedure last week.
Reports revealed he failed to inform other Pentagon leadership or the White House of his emergency hospitalization. In fact, when asked about his whereabouts, Austin’s office reportedly told other military personnel that the defense secretary was “working from home for the week.”
Despite this, the White House said on Monday that President Joe Biden would not ask for Austin’s resignation.
“There is no—no plans for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continuing the leadership that … he’s been demonstrating,” national security spokesperson John Kirby confirmed to reporters.
Kirby claimed Biden “respects the fact that Secretary Austin took ownership for the lack of transparency,” and said there would be a review of the situation so the administration could “learn” from the experience.
Rosendale argued that if Biden won’t hold Austin accountable, then Congress should.
“Sec. Austin is unfit for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which is why I urge my colleagues to join me in impeaching him to protect the American people,” he said.
House Republicans already have voted to initiate impeachment hearings for President Joe Biden, although the progress has been considerably slower and less prominent than the hearings that Democrats initiated against his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the House is also scheduled to hold its first impeachment hearing against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Rosendale, who is considering a run for the Senate in Montana to challenge vulnerable Democrat Jon Tester, announced that he planned to hold a press conference Wednesday afternoon alongside some of the GOP’s top conservative lawmakers warning that they will vote to shut down the government if Biden fails to secure the border.
However, a government shutdown would suspend indefinitely any progress on the impeachment probes, potentially disarming Republicans of a valuable weapon during the election season.
