Biden official says US unaware of Chinese spy balloons during Trump

A Biden administration official has confirmed that the United States was unaware of the Chinese spy balloons that flew over the United States during the Trump administration until he left office.

The unnamed defense official confirmed to Fox News that Chinese spy balloons traveled over the United States at least three times under the previous administration, particularly Florida and Texas. The former president and his top security and defense officials have refuted that claim, but Biden’s official noted that the balloons remained undetected until he left office. According to the report:

“US Intelligence, not the Biden Administration” assesses that “PRC (People’s Republic of China) government surveillance balloons briefly transited the mainland United States at least three times during the previous administration and once to our knowledge at the start of this administration, but never during this time.”

The official told Fox News that “this information was discovered after the [Trump] the administration is gone.

“They went unnoticed,” the official told Fox News Digital.

As initial reports indicated when the Chinese spy balloon first appeared over Montana last week, crossing the country for three days until the military finally shot it down, the Biden official confirmed to Fox News that the surveillance operation was part of a “larger pattern.”

“These balloons are all part of a PRC balloon fleet developed to conduct surveillance operations, which also violated the sovereignty of other countries,” the official said, adding that the operations are “often undertaken under the leadership of the People’s Liberation Army”. ”

The official said similar spy balloons have appeared in several countries on five continents – East Asia, South Asia and Europe.

“Two things can be true at once: it happened and it went undetected,” the official said.

American civilians first spotted the Chinese spy balloon floating over Montana last Thursday. It crossed the country until the US military shot it down three days later on Saturday over the Pacific Ocean. The Biden administration and its supporters have tried to deflect criticism of projecting weakness by citing the balloons that would have flown under the Trump administration. Biden’s defenders didn’t mention that the balloons weren’t detected at all, mainly due to the fact that they lingered for a much shorter time.

Last week, when the balloon first appeared to civilians, officials noted that it was hovering over the United States for longer than usual.

Richard Grenell, former director of national intelligence under the Trump administration, said he would not accept offers from the intelligence community for briefings on China’s surveillance program under the Trump administration.

“Biden aides say the intelligence community is willing to offer key Trump officials briefings on China’s surveillance program. They say details were found after Trump left office on balloons that briefly flew over the United States as well as parts of Europe and Asia,” the Bloomberg White House reporter said, Jennifer Jacobs.

“That’s a hard no from me. The entire Biden team lied and are now scrambling for help in the cover-up. You shouldn’t have believed their anonymous source story in the first place,” a answered Grenell.

That’s a hard no from me.

The entire Biden team lied and are now scrambling for help in the cover-up.

You shouldn’t have believed their anonymous source story in the first place. https://t.co/gsYcaTtzeL

—Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 6, 2023