‘A Stupid Statement’: Trump Rips Biden Over Chinese Spy Balloon Remarks

‘A Stupid Statement’: Trump Rips Biden Over Chinese Spy Balloon Remarks

Harold Hutchison on June 19, 2023

Former President Donald Trump ripped President Joe Biden Monday over remarks he made about a Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in February.

Biden claimed that the spy balloon incident was “more embarrassing than it was intentional” during a Saturday press briefing, according to Fox News.

“It’s such a stupid statement,” Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview held at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.

WATCH:

Air Force fighters shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon Feb. 4, after it transited across the United States and flew near sensitive sites, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The former base houses intercontinental ballistic missiles, while the Air Force operates B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from the latter.

China claimed that the balloon was a civilian meteorological research platform and protested it being shot down. The Department of Defense confirmed a second spy balloon flew over Latin American countries Feb. 3.

“They would have never had a spy balloon if I was president. There wouldn’t be a spy balloon over our country,” Trump added. “That spy balloon was going over our nuclear sites taking pictures and we killed it after it had — it was leaving, going back home to China, wherever it was going. But we shot it down over the ocean after it had done all of its work. They don’t keep it on the balloon and you pick it up. That stuff is sent back to China instantaneously as it’s taken.”

Trump administration officials have disputed claims by the Department of Defense that Chinese spy balloons overflew the country during Trump’s tenure in office.