Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was recently included in a closed door meeting with Team Biden officials regarding the spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean after traversing the country. According to her, she used the meeting to tear into the Biden Administration for its handling of the incident.
Speaking about that incident during a fundraising meeting, Rep. MTG discussed what the balloon could possibly have been carrying, particularly hypersonic missiles, and emphasized how dangerous it was that they let that float over the country. In her words:
“You sat by and allowed this Chinese spy balloon that could’ve contained a bioweapon like Covid. It could’ve contained a nuclear bomb. An ENP attack, or hypersonic missiles — like the Chinese government, the CCP, has shown their own people these weather balloons dropping these hypersonic missiles on video. They’ve showed us on video. This is a common thing.
“I said, ‘You allowed this to go across the country, and then you want to stand up here and give us our excuses — your excuses — on why you didn’t shoot it down. Because you’re gathering intelligence, or you didn’t want to risk anyone’s lives?’ I said, ‘That is biggest bunch of bullshit!’”
Watch that here:
Marge says she screamed at the military officers giving them a briefing on the Chinese balloon “that’s the biggest bunch of bullshit!” because “it could’ve contained a bioweapon like covid, a nuclear bomb or hypersonic missiles.” pic.twitter.com/Gsuu4dVrTt
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) February 12, 2023
Mike Pompeo recently skewered the Biden Administration for its handling of the balloon situation as well, saying “I don’t know what it collected…I don’t know what signals intelligence it may have had. I don’t know what imagery it may have been able to garner.” Continuing, he said “The whole world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina — and the United States of America did nothing.”
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Biden, for his part, said after the balloon incident “On Wednesday, when I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down, on Wednesday, as soon as possible. They decided — without doing damage to anyone on — on the ground. They decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water, outside — within our — within the 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down. And I want to compliment our aviators who did it. And we’ll have more to report on this a little later.”
He also had this interaction with reporters regarding the balloon:
Q Mr. President, does the balloon weaken U.S.-Chinese relations?
THE PRESIDENT: No. We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do. They understand our position. We’re not going to back off. We did the right thing. And there’s not a question of weakening or strengthening; it’s just the reality.
Q Mr. President, the balloon in Latin America — the balloon has been spotted over Colombia and Costa Rica. Is the United States worried? Have you talked to your partners in the region?
THE PRESIDENT: The Defense Department has. I have not talked to our partners (inaudible).
He also described the balloon as “not a major breach”, saying “It’s not a major breach. Look, the total amount of intelligence-gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming. It’s our airspace. And once it comes into our space, we can do what we want with it.”
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1