The White House is facing questions about how Americans can trust it would be honest about President Joe Biden’s health.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked National Security Council spokesman John Kirby why the public should trust the administration “about anything ever again,” after it was reported Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not let the White House know of his hospitalization.
Kirby acknowledged that “this didn’t unfold the way it should have… on so many levels.”
“Not just the notification process of the chain of command, but the transparency issue,” he added.
However, Doocy asked, “If the administration is gonna go to such great lengths to keep secrets about the Defense secretary’s health, how can anybody be certain that the administration would not go to the same lengths to keep secret problems with President Biden’s health?”
“If, if you could logically argue — and you can’t — but if you could logically argue that the administration… made some sort of Machiavellian effort across the board to keep this from getting [sic] public, then I think your question has merit and certainly is a fair one,” Kirby responded.
Watch the video below:
DOOCY: "If the administration is gonna go to such great lengths to keep secrets about the Defense Secretary's health, how can anybody be certain that the administration would not go to the same lengths to keep secret problems with President Biden's health?"
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 9, 2024
KIRBY: "…It's not… pic.twitter.com/Yb6658s59B
However, he insisted, “I don’t think it’s a fair one because that’s not what happened here, Peter. What happened here is the secretary of Defense for whatever reason — I can’t answer the question why — that information wasn’t shared widely in the department.”
When Doocy asked if that was a worse situation, Kirby said, “It’s not good. It’s certainly not good, which is why, again, we want to learn from this.”
CBS News notes the Pentagon explained Austin underwent elective surgery on Dec. 22. And on New Year’s Day, he began to feel what was described as severe pain and was admitted to intensive care for several days.
As the network pointed out, the Defense secretary transferred some of his responsibilities to his deputy. However, the news of his hospitalization was not shared with his deputy or the White House.
The first news of Austin’s hospitalization and the fact the White House was not notified surfaced over the weekend.