A senior U.S. defense official said that during the Trump administration, balloons like the one that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina this past weekend flew over the country at least three times.
Republicans have been criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew across the nation for the past few days.
However, an official revealed during a briefing on Saturday that the U.S. was aware of three other instances during the previous administration and one instance earlier in the Biden administration where such an apparatus “transited” the country.
“PRC [People’s Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States for brief periods at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration,” said a senior defense official.
The PRC released an explanation that lacked any credibility despite our repeated attempts to speak directly with Chinese officials about their trespass into our airspace.
The missile assault that Saturday destroyed the balloon was approved by Biden.
However, military officials cautioned the president that the best time to shoot down the balloon was when it was over water, citing the risk of damage to people and property if it was shot down over land.
Despite Republican lawmakers’ claims that the response should have been made sooner, the military advised against doing so.
When he discovered it had crossed American airspace last week, Biden told reporters he wanted it to be shot down.
Trump called it “disinformation” after defense officials revealed that Chinese balloons had flown over the United States while he was president.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social website, “The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show, and everything else surrounding the terribly incompetent Biden Administration.
They specialize in spreading false information and election fraud, and they are currently claiming that a balloon was raised by China during the Trump Administration in an effort to deflect attention from the sluggish Biden fools.
China respected ‘TRUMP’ too much for this to have occurred, and it never did. ONLY FAKE DISINFORMATION, PLEASE!
Defense representatives also refuted the Chinese claim that the balloon was blown off track.
“This spy balloon deliberately traveled across North America. And we’re certain that it wanted to keep an eye on secret military installations.
The insider added that more balloons have been seen over Central America and South America.
“Its route over the United States, close to numerous potentially sensitive sites, defies the PRC government’s statement that it was a weather balloon,” the official said.
