Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been readmitted to hospital, the Pentagon said on Sunday afternoon.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder gave an update on the defense leader’s condition, saying that the hospital admission had occurred early Sunday afternoon.
“Today, at approximately 2:20 pm, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was transported by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” he said.
As The Epoch Times' Melanie Sun reports, following criticism over an earlier hospitalization that was kept a secret from the public and even the White House, the press secretary said that the deputy secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been notified of this admission.
The White House and Congress have also been notified, he added.
Secretary Austin then revealed that he had received a prostate cancer diagnosis in January after experiencing complications with a urinary tract infection following surgery.
The update also said that as of Sunday evening, the secretary “is retaining the functions and duties of his office.”
“The Deputy Secretary is prepared to assume the functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense, if required,” the statement from Mr. Ryder said.
“Secretary Austin traveled to the hospital with the unclassified and classified communications systems necessary to perform his duties.
“We will provide an update on Secretary Austin’s condition as soon as possible.”
It comes just under two weeks after Austin’s Jan. 29 return to the Pentagon after a weeks-long hospitalization in early January.
He was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for an infection stemming from a Dec. 22 surgery for prostate cancer. The New Year’s emergency placed Austin in the intensive care unit (ICU) for days and forced Austin to carry out his duties from home for nearly two weeks after being released from Walter Reed.
...so, to summarise: the commander-in-chief is "an elderly man with a poor memory" and his SecDef is in hospital... again...
