Three Chinese spy balloons flew into the US during the Trump administration, but they were never shot down or publicly announced.
In reporting Saturday’s recent Chinese balloon launch off the coast of South Carolina, the US Department of Defense said three more of these craft “transiently transited the continental United States at least three times during the previous administration.”
The revelation startled Mark Esper, the former secretary of defense, and comes as Trump and other Republicans claimed he shot down the balloon while urging Joe Biden to resign over the stalled attack on the vehicle.
One such Republican was US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted Saturday, “Just spoke to our AMAZING America First President Trump. He would never have allowed China to fly a spy balloon over our country and our military bases and installations.
“Pres Trump would have shot it down before it got to the US.”
The Defense Department reported that three Chinese spy balloons entered US airspace during the Trump administration, a revelation that got the former president’s own defense secretary rolling. Trump (left) has chastised Joe Biden (right) for not shooting the vehicle immediately when he first found out about it last week
US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was among Republicans who claimed Trump would have shot down the balloon had he been president
Trump called for the balloon to be torn down and said when he gets back to the White House he will use the FBI and Justice Department to hunt down “Chinese spies.”
According to a senior Pentagon official, three balloons made it to the US during the Trump years, but never as long as the one that recently flew through the country.
The balloon reportedly arrived in the United States from Canada last week and hovered over Montana, where nuclear silos are located, as it made its way southeast before departing off the coast of South Carolina.
Esper told CNN he was “surprised” by the Pentagon’s statement and said he was never briefed on Chinese surveillance balloons entering the US when he served between July 2019 and November 2020.
“I don’t recall anyone ever coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon over the United States,” Esper said, adding, “I would certainly remember that.”
Biden first became aware of the balloon on Jan. 28 when it was sighted over Alaska. The US military tracked it over Canadian airspace and as it reentered US territory on Tuesday.
Fearing the debris could hit “sensitive” areas as it travels across the country, officials warned the president not to shoot them down until they flew over the ocean.
US officials confirmed that an F-22 Raptor fighter jet shot down the balloon using a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at 2:38 p.m. Saturday off the coast of Myrtle Beach.
However, the delayed response drew the ire of GOP officials, who blasted Biden for not immediately obeying orders to take down the balloon.
US Rep. Joe Wilson and Sen. Josh Hawley condemned the Biden administration over the balloon incident, with Wilson calling for the president to resign
US. South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson said both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris should resign over the fiasco.
“The catastrophic spectacle of the Chinese spy balloon clearly threatened American families from Alaska to my home community in South Carolina, confirming that President Biden and Vice President Harris should resign,” Wilson said in a tweet.
“For American families, it is irrelevant which party is in power because a leader’s first criterion should be their ability, regardless of party, and unfortunately, Biden and Harris are losers,” he added.
US Senator Josh Hawley had called for a hearing against Biden because of the “major threat to internal security”.
He tweeted, “The Homeland Security Committee must NOW hold public hearings on the Chinese spy balloon – how did Biden let this happen?”
Other GOP officials commented on the issue, warning that waiting for a Chinese spy balloon to be launched only shows weakness
Senator Tim Scott echoed his peers’ outrage, saying that allowing a CCP balloon to fly over America was “the embodiment of weak leadership.”
“Weakness seduces attackers. Strength stops them,” he tweeted.
Senator Marsha Blackburn also questioned the decision to wait until the balloon was released.
“One wonders if Biden’s Department of Defense would have shot it down if the American people hadn’t found out,” she tweeted.
Mike Pence, former Trump vice president, tweeted, “Shoot down the Chinese spy balloon,” as he then urged US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the surveillance incident at his now-cancelled meeting in Beijing.
GOP officials have not publicly commented on the revelation that such balloons were encountered during the Trump administration.