Biden Roasts GOP Critics, Rips Trump Administration Over Spy Balloons: ‘They Didn’t Even Do Anything About Them’
President Joe Biden roasted GOP critics and ripped President Donald Trump’s administration over the spy balloons that flew over the U.S. unnoticed on Trump’s watch.
On Wednesday night’s edition of PBS NewsHour, PBS anchor Judy Woodruff interviewed the president on a wide range of issues following his speech in Wisconsin.
Woodruff asked Biden about the angst from GOP critics over the spy balloon that captured the media’s attention for several days — and was shot down on Saturday on Biden’s orders.
Biden responded by cracking wise about one House member, calling the criticism “bizarre,” and referencing the fact that several such balloons were flown over the U.S. during Trump’s term and weren’t even detected at the time:
Judy Woodruff: A Chinese surveillance balloon that went across the country. You ordered the military, the fighter jets to shoot it down off the coast of South Carolina. But Republicans are saying you look weak. Mike Gallagher, the congressman, said.
President Biden: He’s an impressive guy, isn’t he?
Judy Woodruff: ‘Inexplicable’ that you didn’t shoot it down earlier. Marco Rubio said it was ‘dereliction of duty’ not to immediately tell the public about this.
President Biden: Look. I told, it’s now public. I told the military I wanted to shoot it down when it was safe to do it. They said it was unsafe to do it over land. They said they can learn a lot in the meantime by watching it go across the country. As soon as they had a chance to shoot it down over water, they did and they recovered major pieces of it to determine if we can learn anything from what they garnered and what kind of equipment they had. You know, there were several of these balloons that during the last administration they didn’t even know they were there. They didn’t even do anything about them. So, look, I just think that the idea that it was a dereliction of duty, I think, is a bizarre notion. China knows exactly that, what the deal is with us.
Watch above via PBS NewsHour.
