It's been days since President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to shootdown a number of "objects" he claims were a threat to U.S. airspace and commercial aircraft. There are no photos of the "objects," which White House officials say cannot be classified as balloons, and still no recovered debris after they were reportedly taken out by F-16 pilots using $400,000 missiles.
As officials drag their feet on providing details about what exactly the objects were, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre won't say whether Biden scrambled fighter jets to shoot down benign and routine weather balloons.
REPORTER: "If it turns out...that the president and Mr. Trudeau sent top gun fighters to blow weather balloons out of the sky, does the president regret that? And is he embarrassed by that?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 14, 2023
KJP: "We just don't know yet." pic.twitter.com/02rljbp6fQ
During remarks to reporters Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave a preview of how additional "objects" could be handled.
"We will evaluate each and every event on its own merits, and we'll make decisions based upon the recommendations of the NORTHCOM NORAD commander, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and they'll make recommendations to me, and I'll evaluate and make recommendations to the President," Austin said. "Again, these three events, each of them presented a risk to safety of flight. We don't know if they were actually collecting intelligence, but because of the route that they took, out of an abundance of caution, we want to make sure we have the ability to examine what these things are and potentially what they were doing."
This is what's really going on here: The Biden administration royally screwed up by allowing the Chinese spy balloon into the U.S. after watching it approach. Americans noticed right before Blinken's trip to China and then government allowed it to traverse the whole country with surveillance equipment. Now, after creating a lack of deterrence nightmare, they're in damage control mode -- shooting down 'objects' while refusing to identify what they are.
The Biden administration royally screwed up by allowing the Chinese spy balloon into the U.S. after watching it approach, Americans noticed right before Blinken's trip to China and then government allowed it to traverse the whole country with surveillance equipment. Now, after… https://t.co/OXULthRQSG
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 13, 2023
All for show after they allowed an actual threat, the Chinese spy balloon, to float across the entire country. https://t.co/8luVzIvdD7
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 14, 2023