{"id":1836084,"date":"2023-02-05T12:35:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T17:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1836084"},"modified":"2023-02-05T12:36:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T17:36:17","slug":"jake-tapper-grills-pete-buttigieg-over-bidens-handling-of-chinese-spy-balloon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jake-tapper-grills-pete-buttigieg-over-bidens-handling-of-chinese-spy-balloon\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Tapper Grills Pete Buttigieg Over Biden\u2019s Handling Of Chinese Spy Balloon"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjake-tapper-grills-pete-buttigieg-over-bidens-handling-of-chinese-spy-balloon%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1836084&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper grilled Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday about the administration\u2019s controversial handling of the Chinese spy balloon that traversed across the U.S. over the last several days.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg made the remarks during an interview broadcast on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d Tapper wanted the reason why the spy ballon was not downed nearly two weeks after it was first discovered in Alaskan airspace.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg responded that it was all about safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it acceptable that there were eight days that the spy balloon was over the United States, then Canada, then again over the United States, from Idaho, Montana, all the way through the Carolinas for day after day?\u201d Tapper asked.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg responded, \u201cIn terms of how to handle it, that\u2019s something that was done based on assessment of the risks, making sure that there was no risks that outweighed the risks in terms of any damage that would come, and it was handled appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tapper pointed out that the spy balloon may have been able gather intelligence while it flew above numerous U.S. military bases as well as nuclear missile fields.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did the Biden administration first learn about this balloon, this spy balloon, entering U.S. airspace?\u201d Tapper asked. \u201cWe\u2019re told it first did so, it first entered U.S. airspace over Alaska two Saturdays ago. Is that when the Biden administration learned about it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg didn&#8217;t answer the question. He said,\u00a0 \u201cI really can\u2019t speak to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>PETE BUTTIGIEG U.S. TRANSPORTATION SERETARY: We are glad to be here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So, the \u2014 this suspected Chinese spy alone entered U.S. airspace eight days ago, two Saturdays ago, in Alaska. Why didn&#8217;t the U.S. shoot it down when it became obvious that this wasn&#8217;t an accident?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>BUTTIGIEG : The president again gave instructions for it to be handled and to be shot down in a safe manner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>As, you may have seen, there\u2019s reporting now that the debris field that was created by this balloon when it was shot down was about seven miles\u2019 long. So, any time the military contemplates an operation like this, they must consider the safety and well-being of the American people.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This was the president&#8217;s demand. He demanded that all risks be balanced. That\u2019s exactly what happened. The military did a great job. Our main concern, from the DOT&#8217;s perspective, is the safety and security of national airspace.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The thing was located above the area where flights take place, so any debris would have had to pass through national airspace. The FAA and the Pentagon work closely together. In this case, they had to make ground stops at the Eastern Seaboard airports, as well as close some of the airspace, to ensure that everything was safe during the operation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The operation was conducted without any injury or damage to American property or lives.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>TAPPER: Obviously, that\u2019s great that there were no Americans hurt by this.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But is it acceptable that there were eight days that the spy sat \u2014 spy balloon was over the United States, then Canada, then again over the United States, from Idaho, Montana, all the way through the Carolinas for day after day?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>BUTTIGIEG: Well, as the U.S. has communicated, it\u2019s not acceptable at all that China sent this object into our airspace.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But in terms of how to handle it, that\u2019s something that was done based on assessment of the risks, making sure that there was no risks that outweighed the risks in terms of any damage that would come, and it was handled appropriately.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>TAPPER: You say that there was a debris field of seven miles over the Atlantic Ocean, where it was shot down.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>What, if anything, was recovered? Obviously, there\u2019s a lot of interest in getting the material, getting the debris and being able to conduct intelligence operations of our own, of the United States\u2019 own, against the Chinese for this balloon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>BUTTIGIEG: I really can\u2019t. Everything about the tactics, timing, and manner of it all ultimately comes down to the Pentagon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019m just glad that there was no damage or threat to U.S. aviation operations, and that this operation took place, was done in a very effective, excellent way, as you would expect from the American military, without any consequences for Americans on the ground.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>TAPPER: There are many concerns expressed by senators as well as governors. The balloon may have flown and gathered intelligence over sensitive parts of the United States\u2019 infrastructure.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There\u2019s Malmstrom Air Force Base and nuclear ballistic missile fields in Montana, if you look at the map there, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Is it a assumption that the balloon could be launched?<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper grilled Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday about the administration\u2019s controversial handling of the Chinese spy balloon that traversed across the U.S. over the last several days. Buttigieg made the remarks during an interview broadcast on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d Tapper wanted to know why the spy balloon was not &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":1836087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[17453,3706,4943,4117,8745,9164,5853,8633,6893,5856],"class_list":["post-1836084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-balloon","tag-bidens","tag-buttigieg","tag-chinese","tag-grills","tag-handling","tag-jake","tag-pete","tag-spy","tag-tapper"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1836087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}