Greene calls for investigation into why Trump was unaware of previous Chinese balloons

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Monday called for an investigation into why former President Trump was apparently not briefed on previous Chinese surveillance balloons that Biden officials say passed through the United States at least three times during the previous administration.

“If it’s true that the Pentagon deliberately did NOT inform President Trump about the Chinese spy balloons during his administration, we had a serious breach of command during the Trump administration,” Greene said on Twitter.

“The POTUS is the commander in chief. We must investigate and hold accountable those who broke ranks,” the longtime Trump ally said.

President Biden on Saturday ordered the US military to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had spent days hovering over the country in what defense officials later said was a clear effort to spy. sensitive sites.

A Pentagon official revealed on Sunday that similar planes had been spotted at least three more times under Trump, but the former president was quick to deny that any balloons had entered US airspace under his watch.

Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has said he was unaware of any such incident during his tenure – and other Trump administration officials have said even.

Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing a senior administration official, that the United States only learned of the previous balloon flights after Biden replaced Trump in the Oval Office – although it is unclear how. Biden officials eventually learned of past cases.

The defense official noted that previous flights — including an additional sighting early in the Biden administration — had not transited US airspace as long as the balloon had recently been shot down.

It was shot down off the Carolinas and the administration is working to recover its parts.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday that recovering the ball will take time, but “then we can exploit what we recover and learn even more than we learned.”

Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, agreed Monday that the United States will “learn a lot” about China’s surveillance operations from recovered materials.

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