‘I Told Them To Shoot It Down!’ Biden Tells Reporters He Pulled Trigger On China Spy Balloon

President Joe Biden told reporters he ordered the military to shoot down the spy balloon sent by China minutes after the balloon was destroyed.

The president addressed reporters briefly as he disembarked from Air Force One Saturday afternoon, and said he gave the order on Wednesday for the balloon to be shot down “as soon as possible”:

PRESIDENT BiDEN: When I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible. They decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground, they decided that the best time to do that was it got over water outside within our, within 12 mile limit. They successfully took it down. And I want to compliment our aviators who did it. And we’ll have more to report on this a little later. Thank you.

REPORTER: You were saying the recommendation from your was from your national security…

PRESIDENT BiDEN: I told them to shoot it down.

REPORTER: On Wednesday.

PRESIDENT BiDEN: On Wednesday. They said to me, let’s wait till the safest place to do it.

REPORTER: What does this mean for China? Relations with China?

On Friday, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder held an On-Camera Press Briefing, during which he was asked about shooting the balloon down:

Q: Thank you, Pat. You said that this is a — violating our airspace, so why not take it down?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, so, you know, clearly, as we assess options. And considering the — the size of the payload on this, looking at the potential for debris and the impact on civilians on the ground or property damage — again, running through the various factors and looking at — in terms of does it pose a potential risk to people while in the air, and right now, as I mentioned, we — we assess that it does not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is traversing the continental United States.

And so out of an abundance of caution, cognizant of the potential impact to civilians on the ground from a debris field, right now, we’re going to continue to monitor and review options.

Earlier on Saturday, Biden told reporters “We’re gonna take care of it” when asked about the balloon, but did not elaborate. Hours later, reports came in that the balloon has been shot down shortly after Biden was asked about it once again:

Travel Pool Report #6 Hancock Arrival/ AF1 board

We arrived at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base at 2:05. POTUS exited The Beast. Pool shouted are you going to shoot down the balloon? Biden smiled and gave a thumbs up to reporters. Pool also asked Did you issue a directive to shoot down the balloon? And what message this sends to China.

Watch above via CNN.