White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre heartily defended President Joe Biden’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon that flew over parts of the United States throughout the past week.
The Pentagon, at Biden’s behest, eventually shot down the balloon Saturday over the Atlantic Ocean. Biden received heavy criticism in the days prior for allowing Beijing to spy on large swathes of the country prior to taking action.
THE CHINESE BALLOON IS AN EVEN BIGGER STORY THAN IT SEEMS
Jean-Pierre faced numerous questions on the topic during Monday’s press briefing, specifically regarding the timeline for military action, and pointed to a timeline posted by the National Security Council “that was pretty detailed on how everything kind of broke down for the past week.”
“On Tuesday, the president, through the national security adviser Jake Sullivan, directed the military to refine and present options to shoot the balloon down immediately. The president also directed the military and the intelligence community to collect against the balloon so that we would learn more about China’s capabilities and tradecraft,” she said.
“At the same time, we protected against Chinese intelligence collection, because we knew exactly where the balloon was going. The military recommended taking the balloon down over water following the determination by military commanders that there was undue risk of debris causing harm to civilians, while the balloon was over land in Alaska, Canada, or the continental United States, and on Wednesday, the president directed the military to take it down at the first available opportunity, when it could be done with safety, especially as we’re thinking about Americans’ lives and being safe there while maximizing our ability to recover the payload,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden emphatically told reporters on Saturday that he told the military to shoot down the balloon on Wednesday, perhaps in response to growing criticism from Republican lawmakers.
Jean-Pierre, when asked about Biden’s comments, reiterated that the president’s “No. 1 priority is making sure that American lives are protected.”
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You can watch Monday’s briefing in full below.
