Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and 11 Republican senators are demanding President Joe Biden hold Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accountable, after a Department of Defense inspector general report released this week found he failed to follow the law when he hid multiple hospitalizations from the White House, breaking the chain of command and jeopardizing the safety of the nation.
The IG report found Austin violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) twice in December 2023 and January 2024, but also on two additional occasions unknown to the American public in June 2024.
In a letter to Biden sent Thursday, Wicker and the senators wrote:
For days in December, January, and June, no one in Congress or in your administration knew that Secretary Austin was unable to perform the functions and duties of the Secretary, or that Deputy Secretary Hicks…
