Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a public appearance on Tuesday, his first since the controversy over his secretive hospitalization, and opted not to mention his health situation in a break with his script.
The Cabinet official beamed into a virtual meeting of a group focused on discussing support for Ukraine to deliver an opening statement in which Austin deviated from prepared remarks that were published by the Department of Defense (DoD).
Austin was expected to say, “As you can tell, I’m joining from home today. I’m feeling good and looking forward to being back at the Pentagon very soon. And I’m grateful for all of your warm wishes,” but he skipped that part to get right into talking about Ukraine.