Jan. 8, 2024, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to the hospitalization of Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd being kept secret from President Joe Biden:
“Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was sedated in Walter Reid Army Medical Center and no one bothered to tell the White House. In what was supposed to be a minor procedure, Austin encountered a medical emergency necessitating his hospitalization for five days. Normally, this would be no big deal, but when there appears to be chain of command confusion at the Pentagon due to his top deputy being on vacation at a time when Austin has authorized military strikes against Iranian assets based in Iraq, one would think the White House would at least be aware that the Defense Secretary was out of action.
“The Middle East is a powder keg, and the national defense and intelligence establishment seems to continue believing that they are in charge and not the duly elected president of the United States. Under President Trump, we had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff bragging that he engaged in back door communications with China to undermine Trump and betray the nation. Now, under Biden, the Pentagon is acting as if it is an independent branch of government without a chain of command that starts in the Oval Office.
“Who is in charge? Apparently, not the White House. No matter what you think of the current president, this pattern of military disconnection from the president we elect is beyond dangerous — it is the beginnings of a soft coup by a military establishment that could neither defeat the Taliban nor figure out an orderly and honorable exit from Afghanistan.”
For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
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