Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark is Austin’s senior military assistant who is in the running to become the four-star commander of the U.S. Army forces in the Pacific. His promotion is now stalled in the Senate after Tuberville blocked his nomination, according to a report from the Washington Post on Monday. 

“Sen. Tuberville has concerns about Lt. Gen. Clark’s actions during Secretary Austin’s hospitalization,” Tuberville’s spokeswoman, Mallory Jaspers explained in comments to the outlet. 

“Lt. Gen. Clark knew that Sec. Austin was incapacitated and did not tell the Commander in Chief. As a senior commissioned officer, Lt. Gen. Clark’s oath requires him to notify POTUS when the chain of command is compromised,” Jaspers continued.

Clark was one of the senior members of Austin’s inner circle who became embroiled in controversy after the defense secretary was hospitalized for an operation last December. 

Although Austin underwent surgery to treat prostate cancer on Dec. 22, the public wasn’t informed about the top defense official’s operation until two weeks later. Clark and other top Department of Defense officials were kept in the dark about Austin’s hospitalization for 11 days, even as the country’s defense chief developed complications and was sent to intensive care. Austin’s senior aides waited for days after learning of their boss’s healthcare debacle before disclosing the affair to President Joe Biden and top White House officials on Jan. 4. 

Austin’s secrecy sparked widespread outcry from Washington, with Biden saying his defense secretary had exhibited a lapse in judgment by not being transparent about his health prognosis and extended hospital stay. 

The defense chief later apologized for his actions, telling reporters, “I want to be crystal clear: We did not handle this right.”

“I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility,” Austin said on Feb. 1. 

Before clinching his senate seat in 2021, Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. His move to stall Clark’s promotion in the Senate comes after he attracted Austin’s ire for similarly conducting a monthslong blockade on military confirmations over the DOD‘s abortion policy.

The Alabama Republican prevented the upper chamber from approving military promotions quickly en masse during the bulk of 2023. His action stemmed from concerns that the Pentagon was using taxpayer dollars to cover travel expenses for servicemembers traveling to get an abortion.

Tuberville claimed that a policy Austin unveiled in 2022 expanded “taxpayer-subsided abortion in the military beyond what is currently allowed under federal law.” Though the Alabama lawmaker allowed for voting on military nominees one by one, Austin alleged his actions “would set a perilous precedent for our military, our security, and our country.”