Exclusive — Republican Rep. Tim Burchett: Biden Administration ‘Compromised’ by China

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia — Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) believes members of the Biden administration are “compromised” by China, Breitbart News can exclusively reveal.

Burchett spoke to Breitbart at a Republican media town hall in Cannon House Office Building next to the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

Speaking about the spy balloon that the Biden administration refused to shoot down until it traversed the entirety of the continental United States, the Tennessee Republican said, “It’s a total disgrace that it was allowed to even come over our country. They don’t respect us, they don’t fear us, and this administration just proved that.”

He also explained how the Department of Defense refused to listen to President Joe Biden — the commander-in-chief — as he reportedly ordered the balloon to be shot down.

“The chain of command was completely broken,” he said. “The president said, ‘Shoot it down,’ the Pentagon said, ‘No, let’s wait.’ We allowed them to gather all that information all the way over several of out top secret military installations.”

The Chinese are “playing chess, and we’re playing checkers, and they’re beating us at the game. They are looking at all of our response times, looking at our military chain of command, and what’s going on in out political responses, and they realize that we’re weak.”

“When we dropped it in the ocean, which was a joke … we could have dropped it in Montana — it’s more likely to hit a ship off the coast of Myrtle Beach than it would to hit somebody in Montana, one of our least populated states,” he continued, “And then they send mayor Buttigieg to raise the flag on that issue on the Sunday morning shows, and that’s just a joke. He was clueless talking about a balloon leaving a seven-mile trail of debris, which is crazy. Something the size of two school buses? They were just giving us the middle finger.”

Burchett alluded to the Biden administration’s excuse that it would not shoot the balloon down over Montana — which is surrounded by some of the country’s largest and least-populous states, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota — because it was worried it might hit a person or a home.

MTG Bursts BIDEN'S BALLOON: "He's Owned by China!" pic.twitter.com/V10Af2wPnP

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 7, 2023

When asked why he thought that was the excuse, the Volunteer State congressman said, “I think we’re compromised.”

“You have a general who literally negotiated with the communist Chinese at the end of the Trump administration telling this president [Biden] to allow the communist Chinese to fly over when we know they’re spying on us,” he explained. “I think we’ve got a real problem with the Chinese, with the communist Chinese, and their infiltration. I mean, we know it’s here in Congress and we won’t slap their hand.”

“I think it sent a message, too, for the rest of the world that this administration is — I think they’re compromised,” he concluded.

Both personnel and institutions are compromised, according to Burchett.

“The Chinese have been playing the long game for a long time,” he said. “They hook up with members of Congress, not when they’re in Congress, but back when they were in college.”

“They run that net pretty deep — hundreds, if not thousands of people that they have compromised, or have contacted, or are friendly with, and then eventually you get a Trojan horse or somebody, the Manchurian candidate — literally — that gets in,” he continued. “That’s what we’re looking at right now. And then, Speaker of the House Pelosi, she wouldn’t even remove someone from the Intelligence Committee — the very committee that was responsible for disseminating that information and making decisions because of it.”

“We’ve got a real problem, and I don’t think the American public really realizes, until this point, seeing this fly over, because there is no rationale for not shooting that balloon down,” he said.

As the new Republican majority takes the reins in the House, members of Congress are on an oversight and investigations footing.

When asked about how such a mentality might affect the relationship with the White House for the next two years, Burchett said, “It’s going to be strained at best.”

Watch:

Matt Perdie / Breitbart News

“The president’s not with it,” he added. “The Democrats know that. I mean they have an over-under on how long the State of the Union is going to last. I just think we’ve got a real problem there, too. His cognitive level is very low.”

“We’re very compromised there as well,” he concluded. “You know, I pray for his health because the number two is worse.”

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.