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Biden Unaware of Pentagon Chief’s Prostate Cancer Until Tuesday
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attends a welcome ceremony before an annual security meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea on Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: JUNG YEON-JE/Pool via REUTERS
US President Joe Biden did not learn that his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, had prostate cancer until Tuesday, the White House said, minutes after it was disclosed to the public along with an infection that was also kept under wraps.
Austin, who is 70, has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — a fact that the Pentagon had kept from the public, the White House, and Congress for much of last week, triggering a major political backlash.
Austin’s own deputy, Kathleen Hicks, was also kept in the dark for days, even after she was told during a vacation in Puerto Rico to assume some of his duties on Jan. 2.
“He [Biden] was not informed until last [Thursday] that Secretary Austin was in the hospital. He was not informed until this morning that the root cause of that hospitalization was prostate cancer,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said.
“Nobody at the White House knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning, and the president was informed immediately after.”
Austin and Biden spoke on Saturday and it was unclear why Biden did not learn until Tuesday about Austin’s prostate cancer.
Republicans seized on the incident as evidence of dereliction of duty by Austin, a retired four-star general who led forces in Iraq and is America’s first Black defense secretary. The Republican who leads the House Armed Services Committee launched a formal inquiry.
“With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable,” US Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) wrote in a letter to Austin on Tuesday.
Austin was taken by ambulance on Jan. 1 to Walter Reed after suffering complications from his Dec. 22 prostate cancer treatment, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain. After he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, Austin was moved on Jan. 2 to an intensive care unit.
“Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the back up of his intestinal contents which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach,” the hospital said.
Austin’s prostate cancer treatment on Dec. 22 required Austin go under general anesthesia, but he has retained consciousness during his latest visit, according to a statement from Walter Reed.
Walter Reed gave an upbeat outlook for Austin but cautioned that his recovery could take time.
“His infection has cleared. He continues to make progress and we anticipate a full recovery although this can be a slow process,” it said in a statement released by the Pentagon.
Austin, who is 70, sits just below Biden at the top of the US military’s chain of command, and his duties require him to be available at a moment’s notice to respond to any national security crisis.
That includes always being ready to enter secure communications with other officials in the event of an incoming nuclear attack, something that would be difficult from an ICU bed.
The Walter Reed statement was signed by Dr. John Maddox, Trauma Medical Director, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, Center for Prostate Disease Research of the Murtha Cancer Center Director at Walter Reed.
Biden’s administration has struggled to quiet the political furor that has erupted following revelations that the president, who is running for re-election, did not know of his defense secretary’s Jan. 1 hospitalization until Jan. 4.
The Pentagon initially said Austin’s December treatment was for an elective medical procedure. It was not clear how prostate cancer treatment would be considered elective.
Some prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump, called for Austin to be removed from his job.
But the Pentagon said the retired four-star general had no plans to resign and the White House said Biden was not seeking to remove him. Austin remains at Walter Reed.
“The secretary continues to remain focused on recovering but more importantly, on carrying out his duties as secretary of defense and defending the nation,” Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.
The way the Defense Department handled Austin’s hospitalization stands in contrast to how the State Department dealt with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s prostate surgery on Dec. 15, 2003.
The State Department spokesperson at that time issued a statement in the morning making public that Powell, a retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in surgery at Walter Reed and would remain there for several days.
It also disclosed Powell would be on a reduced schedule while he recovered from the operation. The department’s spokesperson at the time, Richard Boucher, then offered details on Powell’s surgery in his daily briefing.
Ryder said the Pentagon would do better as the White House acknowledged damage to its credibility.
“I think the Pentagon has been very, very honest with themselves about the, the challenge to credibility by what has transpired here and by what and by how hard it was for them to be fully transparent with the American people,” Kirby said.
The post Biden Unaware of Pentagon Chief’s Prostate Cancer Until Tuesday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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