President Joe Biden plans to finally address the Chinese spy balloon intrusion along with the three other objects shot down by U.S. fighter jets in a speech over coming days, various news outlets reported late Wednesday.
Two senior administration officials confirmed the move to ABC News after the deliberations were first reported by Reuters.
According to ABC News, the White House sees the days before Biden departs for his trip to Poland on Monday as possible for the potential balloon remarks.
The trip to Europe will mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on Feb. 20, and comes as more voters show signs of despair over the Biden administration’s handling of the rolling crises.
The majority of likely general election voters say that the Biden administration mishandled or should have handled sooner the Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the continental United States last week, a poll found. https://t.co/MTn7Qaa7yP
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 8, 2023
Biden’s move rides on political pressure from all sides for a full and thorough explanation of just what the Chinese spy balloon was doing in U.S. airspace, how long the administration knew it was there and just what information was it collecting.
Biden’s first public comment on the Chinese spy balloon came the day it was shot down when he simply told reporters hours before the mission, “We’re going to take care of it.”
Since then Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) is just one of many lawmakers to step forward and challenge members of the Biden administration he says are “compromised” by China:
Matt Perdie / Breitbart News“The American people need and deserve to know more,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-CONN) told reporters Tuesday after a classified briefing for all senators.
“There is a lot of information presented to us this morning that could be told to the American people without any harm to sources or methods or our national security and the American people need to know more so they’ll have more confidence in our national security,” Blumenthal added, as per ABC News.
Sen. Roger Marshall, (R-KY), has also called on the president to “get in front of America and tell them first hand that we’re safe.”
“The administration needs to be more transparent and, by the way, that was a bipartisan view down there,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, (R-Alaska), added.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) says the “number one thing” Americans should be talking about is the Chinese spy balloon:
For his part, Biden has previously stated he doesn’t regret failing to insist on bringing down the Chinese spy balloon even in light of subsequent news the balloon was equipped with antennas.
Biden simply declared the military “made a wise decision. They shot it down over water.”
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