"The View" co-hosts refused to let U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin off the hook for waiting days to disclose to the highest levels of the government that he had been in the hospital for an extended period.
During the Friday episode of the ABC talk show, co-host Ana Navarro declared that Austin "screwed up," while her colleague Alyssa Farah Griffin described Austin’s omission as a "stunning lack of transparency."
Joy Behar worried about the performance of the U.S. military with Austin temporarily unavailable. Co-host Sara Haines admitted "he absolutely messed up with this," and Sunny Hostin agreed.
Behar introduced the segment, describing Austin’s gaffe and quipping that she couldn't hide if she had some minor illness and she’s just a TV host.
She said, "He’s been in the hospital since last week because of complications from cancer treatment, but he didn’t tell anyone in the White House. He didn’t even tell the president. He’s in the hospital. I take a day off with COVID, it’s all over the place."
After mentioning that GOP lawmakers are outraged about the secrecy, Behar then asked her colleagues, "But does it scare you that, in the middle of all this, our military just waged a massive bomb attack on Yemen?"
Navarro chimed in, noting that "men are antsy about their prostate" and offering that Austin may have been embarrassed by the treatment. Still, she admitted, "He screwed up. Lloyd Austin screwed up."
The co-host then argued Austin needs to use his platform going forward to educate people on the "incidents and mortality rate of prostate cancer."
Moving on, Griffin said, "I do think though – there is a stunning lack of transparency here, though. I was the Pentagon press secretary. There was never a time I didn’t physically know where the secretary of defense was."
She then mentioned the serious responsibility Austin has, especially during the multiple conflicts raging in the world.
Griffin said, "By the way, he oversees 1.3 million active-duty U.S. troops deployed in over a hundred countries across the world. During this time – since October 17th actually, I should say – there have been 130 strikes on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. Most people forget we still have U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. There’s a war waging between Israel and Hamas. Ukraine is at war with Russia."
"The fact that he was not available to take a 3:00 AM call, which every secretary of defense has had to do at some time, that is stunning to me," she said, adding, "I would be so angry if I were [National Security Advisor] Jake Sullivan or if I were the president."
Haines said, "So he’s a four-star general that served over 40 years in the military. Rank, chain of command is very clear to him. He absolutely messed up with this. There is no excuse around it. As a production coordinator, I told my boss when I had to pee. This is a direct report to the President of the United States."
And Hostin rounded out the rebukes, saying, "This is just a commonsense thing. He should have said it. Maybe not publicly though."
