Month: January 2024

In a statement released by the Pentagon on Tuesday from his doctors, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized to treat an infection that was related to earlier surgery for prostate cancer. The statement from officials at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center provides new details about Austin’s hospitalization, after controversy arose over the Pentagon’s failure to notify the White House and Congress about his condition for several days.

According to the officials, the prostate cancer was detected early last month and Austin underwent a “minimally invasive procedure” on Dec. 22 to treat and cure the cancer. The statement added that Austin was placed under general anesthesia and “recovered uneventfully”, and that the cancer “was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.”   The statement went on to say that while at home on Jan. 1, Austin began experiencing “nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain” and was readmitted to Walter Reed, where he was found to have a urinary tract infection and was transferred to the ICU the next day. Further testing revealed abdominal fluid that was obstructing his small intestine, and doctors placed a tube through his nose to drain his stomach.  Austin’s doctor said that “he has progressed steadily throughout his stay. His infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process. During this stay, Secretary Austin never lost consciousness and never underwent general anesthesia.”

Controversy arose after the Pentagon did not tell the White House, lawmakers or Austin’s second in command about his Jan. 1 hospitalization for several days. According to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, several Pentagon officials, including Austin’s chief of staff and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learned Austin had been hospitalized the next day, on Jan. 2. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks assumed some of Austin’s duties that day but was not told that he was hospitalized until Jan. 4, when she was in Puerto Rico.

Ryder said Monday that the delay in notifying officials was partly due to Austin’s chief of staff being sick with the flu: “I’m offering you the facts as we have them, in terms of an explanation of how this happened and also the fact that we will review our procedures and look at how we can do better in the future.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Tuesday that President Biden has full confidence in Austin, and that Mr. Biden learned of Austin’s prostate cancer diagnosis on Tuesday morning.

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In an impassioned speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez asserted his innocence and denied federal charges against him alleging that he took bribes from Qatar in exchange for a friend to get a lucrative contract. The Democratic senator said he was facing “persecution” by the Justice Department rather than prosecution, and defiantly declared he did nothing wrong.

Menendez, the former head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was hit with a three-charge bribery indictment in October for allegedly acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. Earlier this month, hit was hit with new charges alleging that he took bribes from the Qatari government to help a friend. Menendez said in his floor speech: “Why did the government not proceed with all of these accusations from the beginning? The answer is clear to me. By filing three indictments … it allows the government to keep the sensational story in the press. It poisons the jury pool and it seeks to convict me in the court of public opinion.”

Menendez accused prosecutors of wanting a judicial victory rather than legal justice, and questioned the foundation of the Justice Department’s case against him.  He decried that some already have judged the case “despite my innocence and before a single piece of evidence has even been introduced in a court of law.”

Menendez is up for re-election this year; if the case proceeds to trial, it will be the second time in his career Menendez will face off against federal prosecutors. Bad in 2017, a jury deadlocked on charges that he accepted gifts from Egypt as an unregistered foreign agent (those charges were dropped after the trial).

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House Republicans on the Judiciary and Oversight Committees released their report on Monday recommending that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, be held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to appear for a closed-door transcribed interview as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

In their reports, the committee’s chairmen, Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, outline their case for holding Hunter Biden in contempt. They said he was presented with a subpoena requiring him to appear for a closed-door deposition and was provided an opportunity to work with them to find a time that would work best with his schedule. But instead on the day of the deposition, Hunter Biden held a press event in front of the Capitol but took no questions. Comer and Jordan argue that his actions were unlawful and that he should be held accountable: “Mr. Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions.”

The two committees also released resolutions that will be marked up in committee hearings Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. If the resolutions pass the committees, they will then be allowed to be voted on by the full House. The House can then refer the recommendation to the Justice Department, which would ultimately decide whether the president’s son should be criminally charged.

Hunter Biden’s legal team had pushed back on the committee’s request to appear behind closed doors, saying their client was only willing to answer questions in a public setting. When the committee last week announced its intention to mark up the contempt resolution, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, said his client was not in contempt because he had offered to testify in public: “It’s clear the Republican Chairmen aren’t interested in getting the facts or they would allow Hunter to testify publicly. Instead, House Republicans continue to play politics by seeking an unprecedented contempt motion against someone who has from the first request offered to answer all their proper questions. What are they afraid of?”

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At least 11 people were injured Monday following a possible gas explosion at a downtown Fort Worth hotel, according to the fire department. The first call came in at 3:32 p.m., followed by multiple calls reporting a “type of explosion” at the Sandman Hotel, located at 810 Houston St., according to the Fort Worth Fire Department.

There are as many as 11 injured; 1 person is said to be in critical condition, 2 in serious condition and the rest suffered minor injuries. 1 person is still missing. Although the area smelled like gas following the explosion, the initial cause is still under investigation, said Craig Trojacek, the public information officer for the FWFD: “There is a smell of gas here in downtown. We’re not sure if the smell of gas was caused from the explosion or the fire itself, or if that’s what caused the explosion.”

Fire crews said that they are investigating to see if the incident began in the Asian restaurant Musume inside of the hotel. A statement from the restaurant’s founder, Josh Babb, says that the Musume was closed during the time of the explosion and that no customers were inside dining at the time of the explosion; however, three Musume employees were among the injured.

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker posted a statement saying that every Fort Worth emergency response is on hand to respond, with police asking people in the area to avoid the downtown area.

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The U.S. Defense Department has acknowledged that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure. According to a statement from his press secretary, Austin had been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military, retiring as a four-star Army general in 2016.

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Sunday that Austin is “still in the hospital and recovering well” and “resumed his full duties Friday evening,” , adding that he did not have details on when Austin would be discharged.  However, officials from the White House said that the National Security Council, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, was not informed Austin was in the hospital until Thursday morning. Similarly, the Senate Armed Services Committee was not notified about Austin’s hospitalization until Friday evening, saying: “the committee was notified before the press notification went out” about Austin.

Austin wrote in a press release on Saturday that he is “on the mend” and looks “forward to returning to the Pentagon soon.”  Austin said: “I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization to the President and other senior White House officials and Cabinet members is not typical practice. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest which read: “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage. At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”

The Biden administration said that the President spoke with Austin on Saturday evening, calling it a “warm conversation,” and adding that the president “absolutely has full confidence in Secretary Austin.”

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House and Senate leaders announced on Sunday a $1.59 trillion spending deal for government funding in 2024, tentatively averting a potential shutdown later this month. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shared that the agreement includes $886 billion in defense spending and $704 billion in non-defense spending.

Johnson’s and Schumer’s agreement reduces the chances of a shutdown, however, there are still major hurdles facing Congress ahead of two funding deadlines (January 19 and February 2).  Conservatives are still demanding to use the funding bill as leverage to impose more stringent immigration and border security demands, and congress will still have to approve funding bills to avoid a shutdown by the deadlines.

President Joe Biden said Sunday, “The bipartisan funding framework congressional leaders have reached moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities. It reflects the funding levels that I negotiated with both parties and signed into law last spring.”

In a letter to his Republican colleagues Sunday, Johnson wrote: “We have secured hard-fought concessions to unlock the FY 24 topline numbers and allow the Appropriations Committee to finally begin negotiating and completing the twelve annual appropriations bills.” Concessions from Democrats include “an additional $10 billion in cuts to the IRS mandatory funding (for a total of $20 billion), which was a key part of the Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ In addition, we will cut $6.1 billion from the Biden’s Administration’s continued COVID-era slush funds, which we achieved despite fierce opposition.”

Schumer’s statement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the agreement on non-defense discretionary spending will allow Democrats to “protect key domestic priorities like veterans benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists. It will also allow us to keep the investments for hardworking American families secured by the legislative achievements of President Biden and Congressional Democrats. We have made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills put before the Congress.”

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