US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin publicly apologized this Thursday for his reaction after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, admitting that he should have reported his hospitalization.
“I want to be clear. I did not act correctly,” the Pentagon chief admitted to the media in a message in which he took “full responsibility” for his mistakes.
Austin explained that when he received the news it felt like a “punch in the gut” and that his first reaction was to keep his situation a secret, even though it meant that within days neither US President Joe Biden nor the top figure number two from the Department of Defense Kathleen Hicks became aware of her hospitalization.