Biden says Pentagon chief Austin should have told him about illness

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should have told him about the illness that led to his hospitalization, but that he has still has confidence in the Pentagon chief.

"Yes," Biden said, when asked if it was lapse in judgment on Austin's part not to inform him. Austin has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 for complications that began after he underwent a procedure for prostate cancer on Dec. 22.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Katharine Jackson; editing by Dan Whitcomb)