Trump calls on Biden to dismiss Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin isn't off to a great start for the new year.

According to Fox News, it was revealed Tuesday that after the bombshell news of his secret hospital visit to kick off the new year, of which he didn't inform President Joe Biden or anyone else for that matter, the secretary reportedly has prostate cancer.

The outlet noted:

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed Tuesday that Austin was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in early December and underwent a prostatectomy on Dec. 22.

While it's unfortunate that anyone receives such a diagnosis, the problem is that Austin went out of his way to keep it a secret from not only his boss but also from the American public.

Unbelievably, during his hospital visit, he temporarily transferred his powers to his deputy secretary, Kathleen Hicks, again without informing the White House.

Many would label that a national security risk and a complete lack of responsibility, to say the least.

Austin has been criticized in the wake of the secretive hospital visit by all sides of the political spectrum, including former President Donald Trump.

The former president called for Lloyd to be dismissed.

"Failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty, He has been missing for one week, and nobody, including his boss, Crooked Joe Biden, had a clue as to where he was, or might be," said Trump in a Truth Social post.

"He has performed poorly, and should have been dismissed long ago, along with ‘General’ Mark Milley, for many reasons, but in particular the catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our Country!" Trump added.

In the wake of the bombshell news, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby attempted to play clean-up but admitted that the situation was "not optimal."

"For a situation like this to go as long as it did without the commander-in-chief knowing about it, or the national security adviser knowing about it, or frankly, other leaders at the Department of Defense, that’s not the way this is supposed to happen. The president understands that," Kirby reportedly said.

Kirby added, "We all recognize that this didn’t unfold the way it should have. On so many levels, not just the notification process up the chain of command, but the transparency issue — we all recognize that. And I think we all want to make sure we learn from that."

There's a growing chorus of members of Congress calling for Lloyd to resign in the wake of the scandal. Only time will tell if he buckles under the pressure.