Chuck Ross
February 6, 2023
The Department of Defense won't identify the Pentagon official who this weekend told reporters that the Trump administration let three Chinese spy balloons fly over the country without noting the critical fact that these incidents went undetected by the military.
The "senior defense official" told journalists in a background conference call Saturday that Chinese government surveillance balloons "transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration." Democrats seized on the Pentagon's disclosure to defend President Joe Biden amid outcry that China's balloon was allowed to travel unimpeded for several days across the continental United States, only to see the claim fizzle less than 24 hours later when other anonymous officials said the balloons were discovered only after former president Donald Trump left office.
"This information was discovered after the prior administration left," an official told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. A senior administration official said the same to CNN, but did not describe when or how those previous intrusions were uncovered.
The initial statement from the "senior defense official" gave no indication that the military failed to detect the balloons, putting Trump's administration in a much different situation than Biden's.
more
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/pentagon-wont-explain-misleading-statements-about-trump-era-chinese-spy-balloons/
