The White House is defending the National Weather Service and accusing some Democrats of playing politics in the wake of ...

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday he never told his staff to keep his cancer surgery and hospitalization secret from the White House, but acknowledged he should have ...

Austin did not inform either Congress or the White House of his initial treatment in December 2023 for prostate cancer or tell his staff or the White House of his worsening complications on Jan. 1 ...

The White House was caught off guard once again on Tuesday when it learned that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a month ago and had surgery to treat ...

At a White House meeting last week, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, noticed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was absent. A top Pentagon official, Sasha Baker, was there in his place.

In Austin’s case, two people close to the White House said, Biden’s own empathy for Austin’s wellbeing also played a factor, even before the cancer diagnosis was revealed.

The White House was left out of the loop of Secretary of Defense Austin's hospitalization due to his chief of staff having the flu, the Pentagon said.

Austin did not indicate that he would divulge the nature of the illness that hospitalized him. The failure to disclose the hospitalization to the White House was first reported by POLITICO.

The White House has established guidelines for Cabinet heads' delegation of duties in the wake of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's secret hospitalization.