Republicans slam Defense Secretary Austin's 'unacceptable' handling of hospitalization

• Republicans grilled U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at a hearing Thursday about the handling of his January hospitalization.
• "It's totally unacceptable that it took three days to inform the President of the United States that the Secretary of Defense was in the hospital, and not in control of the Pentagon," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.
• Austin doubled down on his apology from earlier this month and said despite there being a breakdown in notifications during his hospital stay, there were never any lapses in Pentagon authority.

Republicans grilled U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at a hearing Thursday about the handling of his January hospitalization following his cancer diagnosis.

"It's totally unacceptable that it took three days to inform the President of the United States that the Secretary of Defense was in the hospital, and not in control of the Pentagon," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chair of the House Armed Service Committee.

Thursday's hearing centered around why the Deputy Defense Secretary and the White House were not immediately informed that Austin was hospitalized after complications arose from surgery to treat his prostate cancer.

"This is about judgment, and poor judgment," said Michael Waltz, R-Fla. "My teenage daughter knows to tell her supervisor if she's not going to work. The American people, truck drivers, bartenders know they have to tell their boss or they get fired. But you've held yourself to a different standard. And that's unacceptable."

Austin doubled down on his apology from earlier this month and said despite there being a breakdown in notifications during his hospital stay, there were never any lapses in Pentagon authority.

"We did not handle this right and I did not