Chinese spy balloons traveled across the continental United States during the Trump administration, but the details were only revealed after Trump left office, according to a senior administration official.
The balloons have flown over the US mainland at least three times during Trump’s term but they have never been shot down or publicly disclosed, it claimed.
Trump, along with several of his national security and defense officials, have denied the claim, saying it ‘never happened’.
At least one has flown over parts of Texas and Florida under the Trump administration with additional sightings near the Pacific Islands of Hawaii and Guam.
Trump compared the incident and the ensuing diplomatic crisis to the chaotic withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan that his successor, President Joe Biden, presided over in August 2021.
The Department of Defense reports that three Chinese spy balloons have entered US airspace during the Trump administration. Trump (left) chastised Joe Biden (right) for not immediately shooting down the balloon when he first learned about it last week
Trump, along with several of his national security and defense officials, have denied claims that some hot air balloons from China flew into the US while he was in office.
The route of two Chinese spy balloons threatens the West in recent days
‘China’s Balloon Situation is a disgrace, just like the horror show in Afghanistan, and everything else surrounding the so-so poor Biden Administration,’ the former president wrote on his Truth Social app.
‘They were only good at rigging elections and spreading misinformation – and now they’re bringing up that the Balloons were built by China under the Trump Administration, to cool down the Biden idiots. slow.
‘China respects ‘TRUMP’ so much that this happened, and it NEVER happened. JUST FAKE INFORMATION!’
On Sunday, a defense official explained how US intelligence, not the Biden administration, made the assessment that such balloons had flown into the country.
‘Information discovered after [Trump] the administration has left,’ the official told Fox News.
“These balloons are all part of China’s balloon fleet developed to conduct surveillance activities, which also violate the sovereignty of other countries,” the official explained, “often. carried out under the direction of the People’s Liberation Army”, the armed wing of the Communist Party of China.
According to the official, Chinese balloons have been spotted in several countries across five continents, including Asia, South Asia and Europe.
One balloon is currently flying over South America and a third is believed to be hovering near US interests, but officials would not say where it is.
The official also explained how the balloons went undetected at the time.
An F-22 Raptor fighter jet fired a single AIM-9X missile to bring down a Chinese spy balloon and its payload, equipped with cameras, sensors and radar
‘Two things can be true at once: this happened and it went undetected,’ they said, noting that the others didn’t fly as long as the one that just flew over the country.
Many Trump officials besides the former president have objected to the Pentagon’s assessment and related media reports.
‘That’s not true,’ former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe bluntly told Fox News on Sunday morning.
‘Do you remember under the Trump administration, when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon flying over the United States that people could look up and see? see it?’
He added, ‘I don’t remember that either. Because it didn’t happen.’
The former intelligence official called the balloon that had just exploded ‘unprecedented’.
“We have never had a case where an enemy had a spy plane flying over our country, our continental United States, posing a threat for more than a week in a row,” Ratcliffe said.
A Chinese spy balloon entered US airspace this week, but the senior defense official is now saying that previous Chinese spy balloons have entered US airspace three times during his tenure. Trump’s President
The remnants of a large hot air balloon drifted across the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its light trail seen below on Saturday
Richard Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, accused the Pentagon of hiding anonymous sources.
‘Biden’s Department of Defense is shamelessly using an anonymous source to say that Chinese balloons have flown over the US under Trump – and Trump’s team has authorized it. It’s a lie. We’ve never heard of this – never,” Grenell wrote on Twitter.
‘And shame on DC’s media activists who continue to allow the Biden team to become weak by supporting and comforting them in their lies and weakness.’
GOP Representative Mike Waltz of Florida, a military veteran and close ally of Trump in Congress, also suggested that the former president’s officials were unaware of any ‘spy balloons’. so during their tenure.
‘The Office of the Secretary of Defense has informed my office that a number of Chinese hot air balloon incidents have occurred over the past few years – including [Florida]’, Waltz announced on Twitter.
‘And according to several Trump Administration national security officials – they were never notified by the Pentagon of these intrusions.’
The revelation startled Mark Esper, the former Secretary of Defense, and came as Trump and other Republicans announced that he would shoot down the balloon while calling for Joe Biden to resign over the attack. The train is stalled.
One such Republican is US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted on Saturday: ‘I just spoke to President Trump the First of our GREAT America. He will never allow China to drop spy balloons over our country and our military bases and properties.
‘Pres Trump will shoot it down before it gets to America.’
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is among the Republicans who claim Trump would shoot down the balloon if he were president
Esper told CNN he was ‘surprised’ by the Pentagon’s statement, saying he was never notified of Chinese surveillance balloons entering the US when he was serving since July. 2019 to November 2020.
“I never remember someone coming into my office or reading anything where the Chinese had a surveillance balloon over the US,” Esper said, adding that “I will definitely remember that.” there.”
Biden first learned of the balloon on January 28, when it was discovered in Alaska. The US military tracked it over Canadian airspace and as it returned to US territory on Tuesday.
Fearing debris could hit ‘sensitive’ areas as it moved across the country, officials warned the president not to shoot it down until it had passed over the ocean.
US officials confirmed that an F-22 Raptor fighter jet brought down the balloon with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2:38 p.m. on Saturday, off Myrtle Beach.
The delayed response, however, angered GOP officials, who criticized Biden for not immediately following through with the order to bring down the balloon.
US Representative Joe Wilson and Senator Josh Hawley condemn Biden administration over hot air balloon incident, Wilson calls for president to resign
WE. Representative Joe Wilson, of South Carolina, said both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris should resign because of the defeat.
“The catastrophic Chinese spy balloon scene clearly threatened American families from Alaska to my hometown community in South Carolina and insisted President Biden and Vice President Harris should step down,” Wilson wrote. on Twitter.
He added: “For American families, it doesn’t matter which party is in power because the first criterion of a leader should be their competence regardless of party, and sadly Biden and Harris are both losers”.
US Senator Josh Hawley has called for a hearing against Biden over a ‘major homeland security threat’.
He tweeted: ‘The Homeland Security Committee needs to have public hearings NOW on China spying hot air balloons – how did Biden let this happen.’
Other GOP officials have weighed in on the issue and warned that waiting to shoot down a Chinese spy ball only shows weakness.
Senator Tim Scott echoed colleagues’ outrage, saying that allowing a CCP balloon to fly over the US ’embodies weak leadership’.
‘Weakness tempts the invader. The power stops them,’ he tweeted.
Senator Marsha Blackburn also questioned the decision to shoot down the balloon only after it was made public.
“That makes you wonder if Biden’s Department of Defense would have shot it down if the American people hadn’t found out,” she wrote on Twitter.
Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, tweeted, ‘Shoot down China’s spy balloon,’ he then called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to condemn the surveillance at his now-cancelled meeting in Beijing.
GOP officials have not commented publicly on the revelation that such balloons have been caught under the Trump administration.
Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk
