As Democratic senators attack Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth for alleged incompetence, Republicans are sounding the alarm on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s repeated disappearances for medical treatment, which were allegedly in violation of federal law.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has been a vocal critic of Austin in recent days. On Friday, the Alabama senator called out Austin for these repeated violations of the law. His criticisms are the latest in a salvo of attacks from Republicans on Austin, whom they view as the embodiment of the problem Hegseth must root out.
On Wednesday, the inspector general of the Department of Defense released a report detailing two instances in which Austin delegated his role to a subordinate while he took time off for two cancer-related hospitalizations.
The report details how he failed to alert Congress of his absence, an…
