Republicans have been tearing into Joe Biden over the alleged Chinese spy balloon that spent the last week sailing over the U.S. Even after he had it (safely) shot down on Saturday, they still moaned, claiming nothing like this would have happened under his predecessor’s watch. Well, it did. Thrice. Donald Trump claimed that wasn’t true — and perhaps to him it isn’t, but only because the Pentagon may have never told him about it.
And according to several Trump Admin national security officials – they were never informed of these intrusions by the Pentagon.
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) February 5, 2023
Mike Waltz, a GOP representative from Florida, took to Twitter Sunday, claiming he’d heard from the office of the Defense Secretary that “several Chinese balloon incidents have happened in the past few years – including over FLorida [sic].” Waltz also spoke to Trump’s national security officials, who told him “they were never informed of these intrusions by the Pentagon.”
If all this is true, that means the Pentagon simply never informed Trump of the spy balloons. No civilian ever spotted them either, so they never made news. No reason has been given for why Pentagon officials would keep this a secret from the then-president. But given what a loose cannon the guy can be — prone to random acts like making stuff up about the dearly departed Manhattan institution the 21 Club while ranting madly at generals — it’s not hard to see why.
(Via Raw Story)