Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are calling for an investigation into how the White House spent days unaware that defence secretary Lloyd Austin was in hospital at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, following what the Pentagon has described as an elective medical procedure.
On Monday, representatives Mike Rogers and Adam Smith – the Alabama Republican and Washington Democrat who serve as chair and ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee – issued a rare joint statement calling for a probe into how Mr Austin, a retired four-star US Army general, all but disappeared for a week without anyone in the White House being any the wiser.
