Biden unlikely to sack Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin over hospital row

President Joe Biden is unlikely to fire the Defence Department’s top civilian official over his failure to keep the White House in the loop as he spent last week in hospital despite growing criticism over the matter, according to White House officials.

A White House official said the president is not considering removing Mr Austin, a former four-star US Army general, even though he did not let Mr Biden or his top aides know that he was hospitalised starting on 1 January.

Another senior Biden aide told The Independent that Mr Biden trusts Mr Austin implicitly and values how the Pentagon boss prefers to be a “work horse” rather than a “show horse” in his cabinet, but the official predicted there would be some consequences further down the Defence Department chain of command over what appears to be a lapse in communication.

John Kirby, a National Security Council spokesperson, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday that there is currently “no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job” at this time.

“The President respects the fact that Secretary Austin took ownership for the lack of transparency, he also respects the amazing job he's done as Defence Secretary and how he's handled multiple crisis over the last almost three years now, and [he] very much values his advice, candour, leadership, and again looks forward to having him back,” he said.

In a statement released on Saturday, Mr Austin said he was “very glad to be on the mend” and looking forward to returning to the Pentagon “soon,” while admitting that he “could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed”.

“I commit to doing better,” he said, adding that he took “full responsibility” for what he described