A House Republican lawmaker is raising the stakes for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, announcing plans to introduce articles of impeachment over the defense secretary’s failure to disclose his hospitalization for several days.
On Monday evening, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) announced he intends to file articles of impeachment against Mr. Austin on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Rosendale presented the defense secretary’s undisclosed hospitalization as part of a pattern of dishonesty and conduct that jeopardizes national security.
“Sec. Austin has violated his oath of office time and time again, and has jeopardized the lives of the American people,” the Montana Republican said in a Monday evening press statement.
Mr. Austin underwent an elective medical procedure on Dec. 22 and was discharged the following day. Mr. Austin began experiencing severe pain on Jan. 1 and was admitted to an intensive care unit at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center. According to a timeline provided by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Mr. Austin’s chief of staff notified the deputy secretary of defense and the White House national security adviser of his hospitalization on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 4. Members of Congress weren’t notified of the situation until the afternoon of Jan. 5.
“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 [intercontinental ballistic missiles]—and allowed the Chinese Communist Party to gather intel on American citizens. Moreover, recent reports show that Sec. Austin lied about the balloon repeatedly, putting the American people in danger,” Mr. Rosendale’s Monday statement reads, referencing a Chinese high-altitude balloon that floated across the United States in late January and early February 2023.
“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,” Mr. Rosendale’s statement continued.
Rosendale Faults Austin for Afghanistan Withdrawal
Mr. Rosendale went further, tying Mr. Austin’s recent conduct and judgment over his hospitalization to his handling of the U.S. withdrawal and civilian evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021.
The U.S. withdrawal effort was hastened as the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed more rapidly than U.S. officials expected. The Islamist Taliban insurgency seized control of the Afghan capital of Kabul before the U.S. withdrawal was complete. Amid the rapidly devolving situation in Afghanistan, the U.S. side was also working to evacuate Afghan partners who had assisted the United States throughout the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
After the Taliban seized Kabul, the U.S. military’s withdrawal effort evolved into a hastily assembled airlift operation that carried tens of thousands of civilians out of the country through the Taliban-surrounded Kabul airport. While this civilian airlift operation rapidly evacuated many civilians from Afghanistan, critics have questioned what vetting standards were used to ensure that evacuees did not pose undue risk to countries taking them in.
The civilian evacuation effort also placed U.S. troops in the role of guarding the airport and controlling the crowds of people pushing to find seats on flights out of the country. On Aug. 26, 2021, a member of the ISIS terrorist group blended into the crowd of civilians and carried a suicide bomb up to a security checkpoint manned by U.S. personnel, detonating the bomb and killing dozens of people, including 13 U.S. service members.
“The Secretary failed to uphold his oath of office during the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan which led to the death of 13 American soldiers and enabled unvetted migrants to flow into the United States—including allowing an unvetted migrant to rape a young woman in Missoula,” Mr. Rosendale’s Monday press statement reads.
Other Republicans add Pressure
Mr. Rosendale’s impeachment threat comes as other politicians have expressed outrage over the defense secretary’s handling of his hospitalization.
Former President Donald Trump called for Mr. Austin to be fired and, like Mr. Rosendale, tied the hospitalization controversy to the defense secretary’s past performance.
“He has performed poorly, and should have been dismissed long ago . . . for many reasons, but in particular the catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our Country!” President Trump wrote in a Sunday post on his Truth Social account.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) also called for Mr. Austin’s resignation on Monday morning.
The Pentagon has indicated Mr. Austin has no plans to resign and the White House has indicated President Joe Biden is not seeking his removal.
“Our main focus right now is on Secretary Austin’s health and making sure that he gets all the care and support that he needs to fully recover. That’s the focus,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “And he has already resumed all his authorities. He’s already doing all of the functions he would normally do. He’s doing it right now from the hospital.”
When reached for comment about the potential impeachment effort, a Pentagon spokesperson told NTD News, “We have nothing to offer on this; we’re not going to speculate on hypothetical situations.”
Mr. Rosendale’s plan to bring articles of impeachment against the defense secretary comes as the Republican House majority is already considering whether to impeach President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.