Attempting to defend the Biden Administration on Saturday, a defense official said that Chinese spy balloons had briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump Administration. As that official put it:
“PRC [People’s Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly 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 of time.”
Well, former President Trump claimed that that was “disinformation” and that he would have immediately shot down any Chinese spy balloons if they floated over the US during his presidency. He said as much in a statement to Fox News, saying:
“This never happened. It would have never happened.”
“It never happened with us under the Trump administration, and if it did, we would have shot it down immediately. It’s disinformation.”
He also said, Fox News Digital reports, that Beijing “greatly respected” us during his presidency, implying that things have changed since Biden became president.
Further, he said, when speaking about the Biden Administration, “they look so bad, as usual. They are incompetent.”
Surprisingly, John Bolton, Trump’s neocon National Security Advisor, was on the same page as Trump regarding the issue, saying:
“I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I’d never heard of any of that occurring before I joined in 2018. I haven’t heard of anything that occurred after I left either.”
He added that, “I can say with 100% certainty, not during my tenure.”
Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, who told Fox News Digital that he did “one of the biggest intelligence deep dives on China, their spying and the origins of COVID,” also denied the report about CCP balloons under Trump, saying:
“It never came up. If a balloon had come up, we would have known. Someone in the intelligence community would have known, and it would have bubbled up to me to brief the president.”
Joining in was former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who said, speaking about the claim that CC balloons traversed the US three times under Trump:
“It’s not true. I can refute it. The American people can refute it for themselves. Do you remember during the Trump administration when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see, even with the naked eye, and that a media that hated Donald Trump wasn’t reporting? I don’t remember that either because it didn’t happen.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said much the same thing, saying “I don’t ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States. I would remember that for sure.”
So, perhaps those CCP balloons under Trump the defense establishment is only now “telling” us about are hidden with those Iraqi WMDs we never found and that Russian disinformation on Hunter’s laptop that wasn’t there.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
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