The Unforgiving Debtor: Matt Gaetz Tears Into Sec Def Lloyd Austin Over Hypocrisy On Medical Privacy

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin caused an uproar in early 2024 when it was revealed that he'd been hospitalized for surgery for prostate cancer and subsequent complications from that without properly notifying the White House or his staff. Austin testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday to address the matter in a hearing titled: "A Review of Defense Secretary Austin's Unannounced Absence." Austin was pressed by a number of the committee members — particularly the Republicans and particularly those who've served in the military — on the failures of the process and his own role in the mistakes made.

Unsurprisingly, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) came loaded for bear. During his few minutes of questioning, Gaetz not only voiced criticism of Austin's behavior but drove home the point of the hypocrisy involved in asking for grace for Austin's missteps in the face of a private medical matter while offering no such grace for the many service members who were negatively impacted by the COVID vaccine mandate. As Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin begs Congress for grace and forgiveness after his unauthorized absence was exposed earlier this year, he REFUSED to give that same grace to the 8,600 service members he kicked out due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate!

Gaetz: “Now that you see how personal medical decisions are, will you call for the re-recruitment, restoration of full rank and back pay for the 8,600 service members who were vax-mandated out of the military?” - Sec Def Austin: “No, I won’t.” -- Now, let's be real for a moment: Nothing concrete will come of this hearing — Austin's already essentially been absolved of wrongdoing here. This was an opportunity for Republicans to beat up on the administration via one of its many less-than-stellar cabinet members and for Democrats to beat up on Republicans for failing to fund (again/more) the war in Ukraine. But kudos to Gaetz for highlighting the hypocrisy once again (always) on display.

RedState: 'The Unforgiving Debtor': Matt Gaetz Tears Into SecDef Lloyd Austin Over Hypocrisy on 'Medical Privacy'
https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2024/02/29/matt-gaetz-tears-into-secdef-lloyd-austin-over-hypocrisy-on-medical-privacy-n2170755