CNN’s Chris Wallace Taken Aback When Biden DHS Chief Sidesteps ‘Extraterrestrial’ Question: ‘For the Sake of Argument Why?’
CNN anchor Chris Wallace did something of a double-take when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sidestepped as Wallace asked if flying objects being shot down could be “extraterrestrial.”
The China spy balloon news cycle gave way last weekend to a new spate of flying objects that were shot down, and the flurry of sightings gave way to speculation about space aliens.
On this week’s edition of HBO Max and CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, the host asked Mayorkas a multiple-part question that included the “extraterrestrial” speculation, and zeroed in when Mayorkas singled it out to “put aside”:
CHRIS WALLACE: Well, we’re gonna start in a slightly different area than I expected to. We’ll get to the border in a few minutes. But let’s start with balloons and all of these objects that the US has been shooting down over North America the last couple of weeks. Do you regard them as a threat to Homeland Security?
SEC. MAYORKAS: Well, Chris, let’s separate it. The first one, of course, was sent by China to surveil the United States and invaded our sovereignty and of course, the Department of Defense took action upon the President’s instructions. The next three, we were unclear exactly what they were. We assess that they did not pose a physical danger to the homeland. However, they did pose a potential threat to civil aviation, and we are going to protect the American people. And so once again, the Department of Defense took action upon the President’s direction.
CHRIS WALLACE: House Republicans have sent you a series of questions for DHS’ Office of intelligence and analysis. How much do you know? Are these, the other three, not the Chinese balloon, but the other three. Do we have any idea whether they were sent by foreigners actors, foreign countries? Whether it’s just some of the traffic that’s always above the US or it’s even been suggested they’re extraterrestrial.
SEC. MAYORKAS: Well, let’s put aside that last one. With the assessment–
CHRIS WALLACE: Just for the sake of argument, why?
SEC. MAYORKAS: Well, uh, because I don’t think our Office of iItelligence and Analysis is going to be able to make that determination. But I think what the assessment is going to be based on is what we are able to recover and analyze but there is a lot of traffic, if you will, in the skies. And what the President has done now is tasked the National Security Council to bring together the interagency to really understand what we know about what is happening in the air, to understand all of our capabilities, and really to develop protocols to both respond to and prevent these types of incidents from occurring.
CHRIS WALLACE: And DHS was part of that.
SEC. MAYORKAS: We sure are.
CHRIS WALLACE: I mean I asked this question knowing that it may be a little bit foolish. Do you have a gut feeling? Do you in other words, do you tend to think that these are foreign actors that have sent these vehicles or it’s just that because we’ve opened the filter, as they say, and we’re looking more for objects that are over the homeland, we’re discovering that there’s always a lot of traffic over the homeland?
SEC. MAYORKAS: So I don’t have a particular gut reaction to this. We’re going to review our analysis and make a very educated and informed decision. But there are two things number one, there is a lot of traffic there. And number two, our capabilities are increasing to identify it. And I think that’s a very important thing to keep in mind.
Watch above via HBO Max and CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.
