Pentagon Won’t Explain Misleading Statements About Trump-Era Chinese Spy Balloons

The Pentagon will not identify the Pentagon official that claimed that Trump’s administration allowed three Chinese spy balloons to fly above the country, despite the fact these incidents were not detected by the military.

The “senior defense official” Telled journalists Saturday’s background conference call revealed that the Chinese government has placed surveillance balloons on its citizens. “transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration.” Democrats used the Pentagon’s revelation to defend President Joe Biden amid outcry China’s balloon traveled unimpeded across the continental United States for several days. But the claim was quickly quashed by anonymous officials who claimed the balloons were only discovered after Donald Trump had left office.

“This information was discovered after the prior administration left,” Official Telled The Wall Street Journal Sunday. A senior official in the administration CNN also reported the same thing, but did no detail when or how these intrusions had been discovered.

The first statement of the “senior defense official” Trump’s administration is in a very different place than Biden’s. There was no indication that the military didn’t detect the balloons.

Chinese “government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time,” According to a transcript, the unnamed official spoke.

This discrepancy is a result of revelations that the Biden administration withheld information about the balloon from the public out of concern that the disclosure could derail Secretary of States Antony Blinken’s planned trip to China. After a Billings newspaper spotted the balloon last week, the administration was forced into acknowledging it. The balloon was shot down by fighter aircraft of the Air Force on Saturday afternoon, just off the Carolina coast.

The identity of the senior defense officer could indicate whether the Pentagon is also supporting Biden in the fight against the balloon crisis. The Pentagon spokesperson denied that the statement was true. Washington Free Beacon‘s request to identify the senior official, or say whether the individual is a political appointee or career employee.

“As the briefing was conducted on background, we are only attributing remarks to a senior defense [official] and senior military officials,” According to a spokesperson from the Pentagon, Free Beacon.

The remarks were made by a senior defense official about the