Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on February 29th regarding his decision to withhold his recent cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization from top officials.
Confirmation of Austin’s testimony date was provided by a House aide to The Hill late Tuesday.
House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) had previously called for Austin to appear before the committee on February 14th to address concerns regarding the withholding of information from the President, Congress, and the public.
Rogers initiated a formal inquiry in January to investigate why Austin kept his hospitalization, which began on January 1st and extended for several weeks due to an infection following a December surgery to treat prostate cancer, private. Austin did not inform the White House or his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, for three days after his admission. Furthermore, Austin did not disclose his cancer diagnosis, received in early December, to top Pentagon officials or the White House for over a month.
Rogers cited a scheduling conflict for Austin as the reason behind the amended hearing date. The upcoming hearing is expected to be contentious, as several GOP lawmakers, along with one Democrat, have called for Austin’s resignation.
Austin has expressed remorse for the communication breakdown and made a public apology during his first appearance in the Pentagon press briefing room since his hospitalization last week.