Montana Republican Representative Matt Rosendale officially delivered articles of impeachment against Lloyd Austin, the secretary of defense, on Wednesday.
After he submitted the articles, Rosendale said:
“The pattern of misinformation and lies [the defense secretary] has provided to the American people are a serious threat to our national security and cannot be tolerated. It is time to make a change.”
Rosendale first announced on Monday that he was planning to introduce the articles, and he followed through on that promise two days later.
This all came about after Austin didn’t disclose that he was hospitalized to not only some of the top members of his own staff but to the White House as well.
Rosendale said that this potentially put the lives of many Americans at risk, and falls into a pattern of Austin being dishonest with the American people.
Austin had spent three days at the Walter Reed Medical Center’s intensive care unit before he notified his top deputy — Kathleen Hicks — as well as leaders at the National Security Council and President Joe Biden that he was there.
At the time, Hicks was making “routine decisions” on behalf of Austin, even though she didn’t know why she was acting in that capacity.
Rosendale commented:
“Secretary Austin has violated his oath of office time and time again, and has jeopardized the lives of the American people.”
It’s not just that Austin didn’t tell people that he was hospitalized. Rosendale also said that the decision by his administration to allow the Chinese spy balloon to traverse the entire continental U.S. was dangerous.
The Pentagon repeatedly said that the balloon never collected any sensitive information about military bases in the U.S. But, multiple reports have suggested that the Department of Defense wasn’t completely forthcoming with what it knew about the spy balloon as well as the capabilities it had.
All of this is why Rosendale believes that Austin should be removed from his post. As he said:
“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. Secretary Austin is unfit for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which is why I urge my colleagues to join me in impeaching him to protect the American people.
“Furthermore, 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.”
This is the second round of impeachment articles that have been introduced against Austin. Representative Cory Mills of Florida did so last April over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
For his part, Austin acknowledged that he should have handled the situation better, informing both White House officials and the public about his stay in the hospital. That being said, he defended his right to privacy.
Sources have told multiple media outlets that Austin has no plans of resigning, and that Biden wouldn’t accept his resignation even if he gave it.
