Trump Responds After Anonymous Official Claims Chinese Spy Balloons Flew Over U.S. on His Watch

Former President Donald Trump Responding to claims that spy balloons from the Chinese regime entered American airspace during his administration, he stated such alleged events “never happened.”

A U.S. Defense Department spokesperson claimed that spy balloons were seen transiting over U.S. territories under Trump’s administration. Trump is a resolute democrat. Fox News interview Sunday, the meeting was rescheduled.

“This never happened. It would have never happened,” Trump stated to the outlet that the Chinese regime was his concern. “respected us greatly” Under his leadership. “It never happened with us under the Trump administration and if it did, we would have shot it down immediately,” Trump added “It’s disinformation.”

Trump called on Truth Social, his social media platform, to have the U.S. Military shoot down the balloon after it was spotted in Montana near Billings.

“Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the ‘heat’ off” Trump, the Biden administration Write Sunday. “China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did.”

Other Officials Respond

Mark Esper, Trump’s secretary of defense, has refuted claims that balloons were flying above the United States during the previous administration.

“I don’t ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States,” He said CNN. “I would remember that for sure.”

John Bolton, who was a former U.S. national-security adviser under Trump, stated that he had never heard of spy balloons entering U.S. Airspace or hovering above U.S. territory during Trump’s presidency. Bolton, who was also a Bush administration official, said that he has never heard of anything like it happening before joining the Trump administration in 2018.

“I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I’d never heard of any of that occurring before I joined in 2018,” Bolton said Fox News Sunday “I haven’t heard of anything that occurred after I left either.”

Bolton responded to claims made this weekend and said that the current administration must be replaced “tell Congress” About any “specific examples.” He also said that “I can say with 100 percent certainty not during my tenure.”

After being shot from Surfside Beach, S.C. on February 4, 2023, the Chinese spy balloon drifts towards the ocean. (Randall Hill/Reuters)

“Unequivocally, I have never been briefed on the issue,” added Robert O’Brien, who served as White House national security adviser under Trump. “It never came up,” He stated. “If a balloon had come up, we would have known. Someone in the intelligence community would have known, and it would have bubbled up to me to brief the president,” Fox spoke with Ric Grenell, former acting Director of National Intelligence.

“It’s not true. I can refute it,” John Ratcliffe, former Director for National Intelligence, also spoke out. “The American people can refute it for themselves. Do you remember during the Trump administration, when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see, even with the naked eye, and that a media that hated Donald Trump wasn’t reporting?”

What was Claimed?

A top Defense official, who was not identified, said Saturday that the Chinese regime’s “surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time,” According to a ahref=”https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3288618/senior-defense-official-and-senior-military-official-hold-an-off-camera-on-back/”>transcript Released By the Pentagon

“We spoke directly with Chinese officials through multiple channels, but rather than address their intrusion into our airspace, the [Chinese regime] put out an explanation that lacked any credibility,” The official stated.

On Saturday, officials declared that President Joe Biden Although he had issued the order, he desired the balloon to be downed earlier than Wednesday. U.S. officials advised him that the best time to perform the operation was when it was over water. According to military officials, bringing the aircraft down over land at an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue threat to anyone on the ground.

Saturday morning, the huge white orb was observed over the Carolinas as the balloon approached the Atlantic coast. An F-22 fighter plane fired a missile at a balloon about 6 nautical miles from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

This report was contributed by The Associated Press.

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