Report: Biden Admin Not Only Knew About Chinese Spy Balloon But Sought To Hide Its Existence From Congress
“Administration officials at first hoped to conceal the balloon’s existence from the public, and from Congress, according to multiple former and current administration and congressional officials.”
Nothing like a pre-Christmas Friday evening news dump to kick off the festivities. We all remember the Chinese spy balloons wafting across the United States (and South America. And Canada.), with the first one allowed to traverse the entire nation before finally being shot down . . . once its mission was complete.
Chinese Spy Balloon shot down once it completes its mission. pic.twitter.com/qaNy73uCyO
— Michael P Pregent (@MPPregent) February 4, 2023
At the time we learned that the Biden administration was trying to hide its existence from the American people, but now NBC News is reporting that they were also trying to conceal this important information from Congress, as well.
HOLY CRAP this story per @NBCNews
When the Biden Admin discovered the Chinese spy balloon, they wanted to hide its existence from CONGRESS
Their plans were ruined by news outlets reporting on the balloon pic.twitter.com/vFtsvaOMpa
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) December 23, 2023
NBC News reports (archive link):
Administration officials at first hoped to conceal the balloon’s existence from the public, and from Congress, according to multiple former and current administration and congressional officials.
“Before it was spotted publicly, there was the intention to study it and let it pass over and not ever tell anyone about it,” said a former senior U.S. official briefed on the balloon incident.
A senior Biden administration denied that there was an effort to keep the balloon secret. “To the extent any of this was kept quiet at all, that was in large part to protect intel equities related to finding and tracking them,” the official said, referring to intelligence gathering. “There was no intention to keep this from Congress at any point.”
Soon after VanHerck’s phone call with Milley, U.S. military jets dispatched from Alaska used their targeting pods to determine what was on board the object. They confirmed that it was a Chinese spy balloon that was not carrying offensive weapons but was outfitted with a large payload of surveillance equipment.
. . . . On Feb. 1, NBC News told White House officials that it was planning to report that a Chinese spy balloon was flying over the U.S. and asked for comment. With NBC preparing it report, and Biden’s decision not to shoot it down, officials hastily organized briefings for lawmakers and the media to try to get ahead of the story.
The U.S. also summoned Chinese diplomats for answers on the balloon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and then-Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman met with officials from the Chinese Embassy, but the Chinese diplomats denied the balloon even belonged to China. U.S. officials believe they genuinely did not know about it.
Uh huh.
And also this:
Biden says the Chinese spy balloon he let surveil the entire United States before shooting it down over the ocean "was more embarrassing than it was intentional" for China. pic.twitter.com/PeyyYfqwJ1
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 17, 2023
Those bumbling Chinese have no idea what they are doing, according to the sitting president and his cabinet of clowns. And they think we actually believe them. They may truly underestimate Communist China (that whole bigotry of low expectations the Democrats embrace against anyone who is non-white), but normal Americans are not that gullible, self-destructive, or racist.
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Comments
Please tell me no one is surprised by this. The entire Biden Junta are the bought-and-paid-for agents of the ChiComs. In simple terms, traitors.
Sounds impeachable to me.
If it could be proven, yes. So far it’s all speculation and wild accusations, and you can’t impeach someone on that.
In any case, impeaching Biden would be an own goal, because he is guaranteed to be acquitted no matter what the evidence against him, and he would trumpet that from the rooftops as a vindication, just as Clinton did.
Biden and his administration knew about the Spy Balloon and did not shoot it down but let it continue it’s mission. Doesn’t matter whether they intended to tell anyone about it or not. They committed treason as far as I’m concerned.
Its
“ and you can’t impeach someone on that.”
Democrats called to say you suck 😂😂
That’s fine. Democrats suck so I don’t care what they think of me.
Milhouse, the point of the impeachment hearings is not to bring it to a vote. It is to expose the crimes of the administration to use in the election campaign.
Hearings, yes, by all means. I’m all for those. If proven this is an impeachable offense, so it deserves hearings to try to prove it. I’m just saying actually impeaching him would (a) require such proof; and (b) be counterproductive even with proof.
Sure, Lizzie Borden is holding a bloody axe and her parents were hacked to death, but nothing is proven yet.
The Bidens didn’t get rich until after meeting the CCP.
Indeed she was acquitted.
And it’s not true that they didn’t get rich until then. But even if it were true, that would not prove anything at all about whether Joe deliberately allowed the balloon to complete its mission.
Merry Christmas, Milhouse!
Thank you.
Oh, Milhouse, haven’t you been paying attention? Democrats have already shown you don’t need any proof of anything to impeach. And with that, there’s a few simple statements.
Fact 1: A Chinese (or other foreign power) spy balloon or other unauthorized balloon, was detected over the airspace of the United States.
Fact 2: president Biden was informed of this, and failed to order the balloon be shot down.
Charge: President Biden failed in his duties as Commander in Chief to protect the United States against an incursion into US territory by a foreign power.
Undisputable facts. And an easy to understand charge.
But there’s more to it than that. The armed forces don’t need presidential authorization to shoot down unidentified aircraft (or balloons or drones or missiles, etc.) over US territory- or even headed for same. Admiral Byng was shot for less, the charge being failure to do his utmost to defeat the enemy.
Really? And how did that work out for them? Did they come out of that with any credibility, or did they just make fools of themselves? Did the impeachment convince anyone to support them? Did it harm Trump at all?
You might as well say that every rapist shows that you don’t need the other person’s consent to have sex, and every bank robber shows that you don’t need money in the bank to make a withdrawal. Sure, if you want to be a rapist or a bank robber.
Your two facts are correct, but the charge here is not merely neglect of duty, but deliberate and corrupt neglect, i.e. that he failed to order the balloon shot down because he was serving his Chinese masters. That is certainly one possibility, but it’s very far from proven.
Even the lesser charge you provide, that he neglected his duty to have it shot down, presumes that that was his duty. But in the first instance it is the president himself who decides what his duty is, and he could reasonably have decided that his duty did not demand that, or even that it demanded not doing so.
The Byng example is ridiculous. First, because even in its time it was an atrocity that shocked and outraged people. It certainly could not happen today. Second, because we are not at war with China, so nobody has a duty to “defeat” it. Indeed a president who unnecessarily started a war with China would probably be impeached PDQ.
“Really? And how did that work out for them? Did they come out of that with any credibility, or did they just make fools of themselves? ”
They stole the White House. A fair day’s reward.
To most of us yes but unfortunately not to the RINOs and Squishes in Congress.
Took them a while to make up this story- we did it on purpose not to hide it. Duh
If they would hide the fact that the president of the United States has Alzheimers, what’s a balloon compared to that?
As it turns out, the balloon was too big too hide. So’s his Alzheimers.
China’s man in the White House, they got a good return for their investment
Chairman Xi-den — likely installed in the White House geriatric ward courtesy of the Chinese communist regime’s Wuhan virus. The Chinese regime very ably exploited the Dhimmi-crats’ and the media’s Trump=hatred.
Typical Dhimmi-crat behavior. Lie, conceal, obfuscate and CYA to hide your glaring incompetence and your failure to defend American interests — just another day at the office for these dim-witted, subversive and vile snakes.
I think you missed the story here. He actively participated in ensuring it completed its mission without interference. Stupid maybe, incompetent surely, but a commie traitor regardless.
Henry — that crime boss and dotard, Biden, is a traitor to the U.S., goes without saying. 🙂
Maybe. That’s one possible explanation. But that’s all it is.
Treason, like his abandonment of our borders to facilitate the invasion of millions of illegal aliens.
Traitor Joe.
Treasonous act #273.
When is the House going to impeach this treasonous dirtbag and his junta??
Even if this could be proven, what would be the purpose of impeaching him? So long as he is guaranteed to be acquitted, it could only help him. Don’t throw him into the briar patch.
There’s nothing to prove. Traitor Joe and his junta have committed most of their treasonous acts right out in the open.
Because it’s the right thing to do. It should be a matter of principle, if nothing else. And not just Traitor Joe. Pretty much every single person in his administration deserves to be impeached – and then criminally tried after for their treason.
There is no proof of this.
Even if there were proof, who says the Republicans would have a duty to impeach him, given the guaranteed acquittal. At the time I supported the Clinton impeachment, but in hindsight, given the political outcome, I am less sure than I was that it was the right thing to do. And that was with clear and convincing proof that he had committed a felony for which other people go to prison.
But in this case there is no proof, so the case is even worse.
If there’s enough evidence to get a conviction, then they should be tried by all means, but that has nothing to do with impeachment. Since getting a conviction on impeachment is impossible, impeaching them would be like trying them when you know that it’s impossible to convict them. No prosecutor goes to trial knowing that an acquittal is guaranteed. It would be unethical to do so. Why should impeachment be any different?
See my answer above.
“Even if this could be proven, what would be the purpose of impeaching him? So long as he is guaranteed to be acquitted, it could only help him. Don’t throw him into the briar patch.”
If it could be proven, I would posit that now there is a DUTY to impeach.
I agree about not throwing him into a briar patch: a woodchipper is far more suitable.
Is there a duty to try someone who is guaranteed to be acquitted? Even when you know you’re only helping him?
Speaking theoretically:
IF no matter what he does Biden & Co. is guaranteed to be acquitted in any impeachment AND,
IF the combination of Leftists and collaborator GOPe is sufficiently strong as to prevent the blocking of any anti-American actions by the Federal government,statutorily or administratively AND,
IF as we are seeing the combination of Leftist Federal courts, Leftist Federal law enforcement, and Leftist Media are such as to prevent and remove any candidates at whatever level who will oppose the policies harming our country [said opposition including speaking out at school board meetings and I expect soon that Coloradans voting against retention of the Colorado Supreme Court Justices that removed President Trump from the ballot for “crimes” he has never been charged with or convicted of will be included] so that there is no electoral possibility of stopping the harm to our country;
What means remain do you see to have a hope of redeeming country and Constitution?
Subotai Bahadur
Whoever’s running The Brandon Administration thinks we only know what we’re told officially, since they only know what they’re told officially.
It didn’t work with The Rona; but how would they know that? I wonder where they’re being convinced there are (or are not) iimmanent WMDs this week.
Now you’ve done it.
My tinfoil hat is going to be taunting, “Ha, ha, I told you so!” all through Christmas dinner.
yeah … they made up a complete (and ridiculous, as usual) lie that these balloons were flying over America all the time during Trump’s term …though they allowed, when pressed, that Trump’s people didn’t know it and the Biden junta had only discovered this “new” fact, now.
That obvious lie was Treasonous Act #185.
It was pretty awesome how they started shooting down every balloon they could find after they had let the Chinese spy balloon, loaded with cameras and detectors and everything, traverse the entire continental United States. They really nailed that high school weather balloon before it got any damaging information to counter the whole global warming BS …
It’s all sort of funny, but it is treason. People are going to look back on all the stuff we let these leftists do (since Barky’s first illegitimate run in 2008) and they are not going to be able to understand how it all could have gone out – so obvious and out in the open as it’s been. History will not be kind to us.
I’m going to say that the Chinese diplomats most likely didn’t know anything about it. I bet China does a whole bunch of things they don’t tell their diplomats.
So another two questions for Milhouse- Why would being acquitted help Biden?
Why doesn’t being acquitted – TWICE!!!- help Trump?
How is it not obvious? He would trumpet his acquittal as a vindication, and so would all the Dems. Just as they did with Clinton.
Who says it didn’t help Trump? It certainly didn’t hurt him, or help the Dems.