Montana GOP congressman to introduce articles of impeachment against Defense Sec Lloyd Austin after secret hospitalization

The move is in response to Austin, 70, the nation's most senior military official, being admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 1 after suffering "complications following a recent elective medical procedure," according to the Pentagon, but never informing Biden or other top officials in government.

In a statement to Fox News, Rosendale said that Austin, while AWOL for days, "…violated his oath of office" on multiple occasions, including during Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the illegal immigrant crisis at the US southern border, and botching the response to a Chinese spy balloon traversing the continental US in 2023.

According to Rosendale, Austin "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 and enabled unvetted migrants to flow into the United States."

The congressman added, "Sec. Austin knowingly put the American people in danger and compromised our national security when he allowed a spy balloon from a foreign adversary to fly over Malmstrom Air Force Base – home to ICBMs – and allowed the Chinese Communist Party to gather intel on American citizens."

The Montana Republican continued, "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."

On Friday, the Pentagon finally revealed that Austin had been in the hospital since the first of the year following complications from elective surgery. However, he did not inform Biden, White House officials, or top brass at the Pentagon until Thursday.

Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services committees are now attempting to get to the bottom of what was being concealed at the top levels of government from the American public and the media.

Rosendale noted, "Sec. 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."

On Monday, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if “…the American people have confidence in Austin given his lack of transparency and then also, do the American people need to be concerned about a lack of transparency for the President given this lapse."

Jean-Pierre referred reporters to Austin's own statement and said, "The President ... continues to have confidence in Secretary Austin and as the admiral just stated ... we want to see him back at the Pentagon."