Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Sunday that he doesn’t believe that the Biden administration would have shot down the Chinese spy balloon had its existence not made it into the news.
“I think the only reason they shot it down is because it made into the news and they felt forced to as a matter of politics, rather than national security. That’s a bad message for the Chinese government to hear,” he told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation.
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On Saturday, the United States shot down the balloon, identified as a Chinese spy balloon, over the Atlantic ocean with an F-22. The balloon had been revealed to the media and public on Feb. 2.
In a statement, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the balloon “was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”
Cruz commended President Joe Biden “for actually having the guts to shoot this down. That was the right thing to do. That is absolutely what the president should have done.”
However, he noted that “Unfortunately, he didn’t do that until a week after it entered U.S. air space. He allowed a full week for the Chinese to conduct spying operations over the United States, over sensitive military installations exposing not just photographs but the potential of intercepted communications.”
“I think this entire episode telegraphed weakness to Xi and the Chinese government,” he explained. “Imagine how this would have played out if nobody had taken any pictures of the balloon. If nobody in Montana had looked up and noticed this giant balloon. If it wasn’t in the news.”
“We know that when the Biden Administration knew about the balloon they said nothing,” Cruz added. “They did nothing. They didn’t shoot it down.”
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As a result of the balloon situation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Beijing was called off.
Brennan attempted to press Cruz on whether he would throw his hat in the ring for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Cruz did not answer her question, but reiterated that he is running for reelection to his senate seat, which is up in 2024. He has previously announced his intent to run for reelection but has not explicitly confirmed that he is not running for president.
