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Chinese spy balloon – live: Biden says US shooting down craft was ‘right thing’ as Trump-era balloons revealed

President Joe Biden has defended his administration’s response to a Chinese spy balloon as divers recover debris from the surveillance craft shot down by a US fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

“We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do,” the president told reporters outside the White House on Monday. “They understand our position. We’re not going to back off, we did the right thing.”

White House officials have revealed that several similar high-altitude surveillance ballons from China had travelled over the continental US during former president Donald Trump’s administration.

The former president has repeatedly denied the claims, dismissing them as “fake disinformation” and claiming Beijing had “too much respect” for him to have carried out surveillance in US airspace.

Mr Trump and Republican officials have criticised Mr Biden’s handling of the spy balloon after its discovery above Montana late last week. The Biden administration shot down the balloon once it was above water and no longer posing a threat to structures and people below, prompting a warning from Beijing against American “overreaction” and “indiscriminate use of force”.

Key Points

  • President Biden says the US ‘did the right thing'

  • Biden defends military response to Chinese surveillance balloon

  • What we know about balloons that reportedly few under the Trump administration

  • White House says Chinese espionage programme has been in development for years

  • US Navy divers are collecting debris

MTG says Biden ‘more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol’ than spy balloon

11:00 , Joe Sommerlad

In a dig at the president ahead of his second State of the Union address this evening, MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has attacked him over the erection of security barriers around the US Capitol.

“Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol than a Chinese Spy Balloon invading our air space that could have carried God only knows what,” the conspiracy-minded Georgia representative wrote on Twitter, striking a distinctly Trumpian note by arguing that basic security measures prove that “walls work on the ground”.

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

10:00 , Alex Woodward

China had “too much respect” for Donald Trump to fly spy balloons into US airspace as the former president rejects Pentagon’s claims that such incidents happened at least thrice during his presidency.

Writing on Truth Social, the former president called the claims “fake disinformation” while slamming the Joe Biden administration as a “disgrace”.

“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!” he said.

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

China accuses US of indiscriminate use of force over spy balloon: ‘Obviously overreacted’

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Condemning the “US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force”, Chinese vice foreign minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the US embassy on Sunday.

The US has “turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace” and “obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Mr Xie said on Monday.

China says US ‘obviously overreacted’ over spy balloon in a blow to bilateral ties

US military releases photos of mission to salvage debris

08:21 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US Navy has released photos of the operation to collect fallen debris from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast.

The mission to collect the debris started at around 10am local time on Monday after rough waters meant it was deemed unsafe to begin on Sunday, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The balloon fell about six miles off the coast of South Carolina into about 50ft of water, the US Navy said, adding that no one was hurt in the process.

“Precautions are being taken during the salvage operation in case explosives or toxic substances are present,” said Gen Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command.

Read more here.

US releases photos of mission to salvage debris from downed Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

Details reveal how China ‘spy’ balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida during Trump's tenure

08:20 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A US military document that is not in the public domain has revealed how China has allegedly been operating large balloons to traverse several parts of the world.

The report, dated April 2022 and partially accessed by CNN, stated damning accounts of how Chinese balloons “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019.

In a further embarrassing claim for Donald Trump, who was president at the time, the US Air Force document said such craft had “drifted past Hawaii” and “across Florida” as well.

Anuj Pant has more.

New details reveal how China balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida under Trump

What we know about Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration

08:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden’s administration and senior military officials revealed that similar crafts had flown above the US in previous years, including at least three times during former president Donald Trump’s administration, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance programme.

Here’s what we know about their travel, their discovery, the Trump administration’s claims and China’s response:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

White House explains how China has spent years developing surveillance programme

07:00 , Alex Woodward

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Saturday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity”, and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.

Mr Kirby said China’s use of balloons for espionage was “not a new programme” and instead is something “they’ve been working on for many years” that China has “tried to improve in terms of capability, range [and] communications”.

White House explains what the Chinese spy balloon was watching

Marco Rubio criticism backfires as he learns surveillance balloons also entered US under Trump

06:00 , Alex Woodward

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl caught Mr Rubio – who is ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee – in an awkward moment during an interview on Sunday after Mr Biden ordered the balloon to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Marco Rubio criticism of Biden on Chinese spy balloons backfires

House Intelligence committee member says US will ‘learn a lot’ from surveillance balloon

05:00 , Alex Woodward

US Rep Jim Himes, the top-ranking Democratic lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he expects the US to “learn a lot” from the downed Chinese surveillance balloon.

“There’s a lot of value in observing an asset like this,” he told CNN on Monday.

“What did we learn by watching this thing over a period of time? When were the decisions taken? And most interestingly, what are we going to learn about the equipment, right? Who made the semiconductors that are on this thing? What are its capabilities?” he added.

He said that being able to capture “hopefully undamaged ... cutting-edge surveillance technology is just a huge intelligence win.”

What did the Trump administration know?

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump and former Trump-era officials have rejected claims from the Biden administration about evidence of similar balloon flights under his predecessor. The former president has called the claims “disinformation”.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN last week hat he was “surprised” by statements that similar incidents occurred during the Trump administration. Robert O’Brien, who served as Mr Trump’s final national security adviser, also told The Wall Street Journal that he did not have any knowledge “of any incursions into US airspace” prior to or during his time in office. He also said he was not briefed on “any China issues like this”.

The latest:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

How did the Biden administration discover Chinese balloons from the Trump era?

02:00 , Alex Woodward

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration was able to retroactively identify the presence of Chinese balloons in US airspace during Trump’s term after the US enhanced its “surveillance of our territorial airspace,” he said in remarks at an event hosted by the US Global Leadership Coalition, according to the Associated Press.

“We enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,” he said.

Mr Sullivan said officials reviewed “historical patterns” to uncover “multiple instances” during the Trump administration in which similar balloons traveled through American airspace.

More on what we know about the Biden administration’s balloon forensics and how Trump-era officials have responded:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Balloon over Latin America belongs to China, Beijing says

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese officials have taken ownership of an “unmanned aircraft” above Latin America.

“Due to the impact of weather and limited self-steering ability, this aircraft seriously deviated from its scheduled course,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press conference on Monday.

The Pentagon, Colombian Air Force and Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority had identified the craft as similar to the high-altitude balloon shot down by a US fighter jet on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina after it traveled across the US last week.

When asked why China had been unable to keep track of its balloons, Mao said she is “not an expert” and added that “this is not the first time that control was lost of balloons used for scientific purposes by the international community.”

Also on Monday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said that the balloon’s course above the US “was accidental and it must not be misrepresented,” urging the US not to “escalate or broaden a tense situation.”

China had ‘measure of control’ over speed and direction of balloon, White House says

00:00 , Alex Woodward

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby dismissed China’s claim that the balloon was a weather balloon that drifted off course.

”We know that they had a measure of control over its speed and its direction and we believe it was conducting surveillance, or potential not potential oversensitive military sites inside the United States,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

He said China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft used for climate study purposes “strains credulity”.

Mr Kirby also stressed that the Biden administration acted within its authority “in accordance with international law and in defense of of our homeland and of our sovereign airspace” to bring down the balloon.

“We are absolutely going to recover as much of as much of it as much of it as we can and learn from it,” he added.

Biden: ‘I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate'

Monday 6 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

 (AP)
(AP)

Addressing reporters outside the White House as he arrived on Monday, President Joe Biden stressed that it was “always my position” to shoot down the balloon, echoing White House and military officials who walked through the timeline of the response on Monday.

The president asked for military options to down the balloon last week when the Pentagon alerted the White House of its presence. Military officials advised against shooting it down as it posed no physical threat and that doing so could rain down dangerous debris.

“I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate,” he told reporters. “They concluded we should not shoot it over land, it was not a serious threat, and we should wait until it got across the water.”

By Wednesday, the president directed the Pentagon to find a way to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was safely above territorial waters.

On Saturday, the president said “we’re going to take care of it” and, shortly after, a US Air Force F-22 jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

Asked on Monday why he believed China would send a balloon over the US, the president laughed, adding “because they’re the Chinese government”.

Biden: ‘We did the right thing'

Monday 6 February 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden said that the latest balloon incident does not weaken the US-China relationship, two days after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance ballon that traveled above the US for several days before hovering above the coast of South Carolina.

“We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do,” he told reporters outside the White House on Monday.

“They understand our position. We’re not going to back off, we did the right thing,” he said. “It’s not a question of weakening or strengthening, it’s just the reality.”

What we know about the Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Monday 6 February 2023 21:22 , Alex Woodward

President Biden’s administration and senior military officials revealed that similar crafts had flown above the US in previous years, including at least three times during former president Donald Trump’s administration, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance programme.

Those previous flights were “brief” and “nothing like we saw last week,” according to intelligence officials, but the duration of the latest flight and its potential track near sensitive military sites have raised alarms about the scale and scope of China’s intelligence operations, though it remains unclear what the motive is and what information the balloons have collected, and whether it is any different from what Chinese authorities have already acquired through satellites or other equipment.

Analysts also have suggested that the large-scale balloons, easily seen from above, sought to test what a US response would be – and how the nation’s own partisan battles could play out – after that kind of provocation.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has reached out to key officials from the previous administration to go over their forensics work.

Here’s everything we know:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Biden to address US relationship with China in State of the Union address

Monday 6 February 2023 20:55 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden will discuss the nation’s relationship with China during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, though she did not provide specifics about the nature of those remarks.

The US, however, will keep “open lines of communication” with China in the fallout from the balloon incident, she told reporters at the White House on Monday.

She said it is “up to China to figure out what kind of relationship they want” in its wake.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponed trip to China, which was shelved in the midst of the surveillance balloon discovery, will be “back on the books” when time permits, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Shooting down surveillance balloon over water gave US greater chance of recovering ‘payload,’ White House says

Monday 6 February 2023 20:27 , Alex Woodward

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said shooting down the surveillance balloon over water both saved lives and gave authorities a greater chance of recovering the “payload” or contents inside of it, she told reporters on Monday.

She outlined the US military and intelligence response to the balloon over the last week including President Biden’s greenlight to take it down. A fighter jet shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

White House ‘prepared and willing’ to brief ‘key’ Trump officials on China’s surveillance programme

Monday 6 February 2023 20:18 , Alex Woodward

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administartio and intelligence officials are “prepared” to meet with “key” officials from the Trump administration about China’s surveillance programme following the discovery of several previous balloon sightings under the former president.

“We are willing to have that conversation,” she told reporters on Monday.

Spy balloons: What are they?

Monday 6 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

Monday 6 February 2023 19:26 , Alex Woodward

Apoplectic right-wing commentators have characterised President Joe Biden as irresponsible for not shooting the balloon down earlier, while Donald Trump’s oldest son took a different approach, sharing on social media that he believes in something more akin to a cultural exchange with Beijing.

On Sunday, he shared a screenshot of a tweet that said "honestly, if I were Trump, I'd be flying this beauty over Beijing by morning."

The "beauty" referenced in the caption is shown in several photos to be the 2018 protest balloon depicting Donald Trump as a fat, snarling baby with a cellphone and a diaper.

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

Pentagon did not believe balloon posed a threat after crossing into US, prompting advisory to wait on shootdown

Monday 6 February 2023 18:58 , Alex Woodward

US defense officials told reporters on Monday that they did not believe the balloon posed a physical military threat when it crossed into the US, prompting military officials to advise against shooting it down initially.

Massive balloon may have carried self-destruct explosives, military officials say

Monday 6 February 2023 18:45 , Alex Woodward

As a US Navy recovery operation is underway, General Glen David VanHerck of the United States Northern Command told reporters on Monday that the downed balloon was likely 200-feet tall and weighed several hundred pounds.

It also potentially carried explosives “to detonate and destroy the balloon.”

Full story: White House says Chinese spy balloon was watching ‘sensitive military sites’ and program has been targeting US for years

Monday 6 February 2023 18:27 , Alex Woodward

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Sunday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity,” and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.

Mr Kirby said China’s use of balloons for espionage was “not a new programme” and instead is something “they’ve been working on for many years” that China has “tried to improve in terms of capability, range [and] communications”.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington:

White House explains what the Chinese spy balloon was watching

Balloon remnants discovered off US coast as recovery operations underway

Monday 6 February 2023 17:58 , Alex Woodward

Recovery teams are examining an area roughly “15 football fields” in size after a US fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Satuday.

“In coming days, they'll be able to get down there and take a better look at what's on the on the bottom of the ocean, but it's just starting,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

Pentagon officials are expected to discuss the operation on Monday.

China’s balloon programme has been in development ‘for many years'

Monday 6 February 2023 17:49 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the “spy balloon” programme under China is “not new” and has been in development “for many years”.

”It is something that they’ve been working on for many years, and that they have tried to improve both in terms of capability, range, communication,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

At least three similar balloons – though for shorter periods of time compared to the recent balloon – were above the US during the Trump administration, he said.

‘No reason’ for balloon incident to ‘devolve’ US-China relationship, Kirby says

Monday 6 February 2023 17:46 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said there is “no reason for the tensions” in the US-China relationship to “devolve into some kind of conflict” over the surveillance balloon incident.

China had ‘measure of control’ over speed and direction of balloon, Kirby says

Monday 6 February 2023 17:37 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby dismissed China’s “innocent” claim that the balloon was a weather balloon that drifted off course.

”We know that they had a measure of control over its speed and its direction and we believe it was conducting surveillance, or potential not potential oversensitive military sites inside the United States,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

He stressed that the Biden administration acted within its authority “in accordance with international law and in defense of of our homeland and of our sovereign airspace” to bring down the balloon.

“We are absolutely going to recover as much of as much of it as much of it as we can and learn from it,” he added.

United States ‘unequivocally’ did not violate international law by shooting down balloon, White House official says

Monday 6 February 2023 17:33 , Alex Woodward

Following criticism from Chinese officials about the Biden administration’s response to the balloon, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby denied that shooting it down while it was above the US violated any international pacts.

“If you’re asking if the shoot down of the balloon inside our territorial airspace was a violation of international law, the answer is unequivocally no,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

“In fact, that’s why we did it about six miles off the coast inside our territorial airspace. We could comply with international law, unlike the Chinese who didn’t comply with international law by flying it over sovereign us airspace,” he added.

The US deployed a F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to shoot down the balloon while it was above the coast of South Carolina on Sunday.

Chinese authorities have criticised the administration for its response to the balloon as an overreaction and the “indiscriminate use of force” against it.

Biden administration preparing to brief former Trump-era officials to learn more about 3 other balloon incidents

Monday 6 February 2023 17:28 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden administration is preparing to brief Trump-era officials on the forensics of Chinese surveillance balloons that Biden officials discovered in “at least three” similar incidents during the former president’s time in the White House, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

“The time that we had to study this balloon over the course of a few days ... was important and will give us a lot more clarity not only on the capabilities that these balloons have, but with what China is trying to do with them,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

House Intelligence committee member says US will ‘learn a lot’ from surveillance balloon

Monday 6 February 2023 17:00 , Alex Woodward

US Rep Jim Himes, the top-ranking Democratic lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he expects the US to “learn a lot” from the downed Chinese surveillance balloon.

“There’s a lot of value in observing an asset like this,” he told CNN on Monday.

“What did we learn by watching this thing over a period of time? When were the decisions taken? And most interestingly, what are we going to learn about the equipment, right? Who made the semiconductors that are on this thing? What are its capabilities?” he added.

He said that being able to caputre “hopefully undamaged ... cutting-edge surveillance technology is just a huge intelligence win.”

China accuses US of ‘indiscriminate use of force' in response to balloon incident

Monday 6 February 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

China’s Vice Foriegn Minister Xie Feng has lodged a formal complaint with the US embassy, accusing the White House of an overreaction to the surveillance balloon incident “caused by force majeure”.

“The facts are clear … but the United States turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace. It obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Xie said in a statement on Sunday.

The US is “dealing a serious blow” towards efforts between both nations following President Joe Biden’s summit with Xi last year.

Xie Feng called on the US “to refrain from taking further actions to harm China’s interests and to escalate tensions”.

Marco Rubio’s criticism backfires as he’s told balloons also entered US under Trump

Monday 6 February 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s attempt to criticise President Joe Biden’s response to China sending a spy balloon over the US backfired as he was informed on live TV that the Trump administration failed to catch three similar airships.

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl caught Mr Rubio – who is ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee – in an awkward moment during an interview on Sunday after Mr Biden ordered the balloon to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Marco Rubio criticism of Biden on Chinese spy balloons backfires

China has conducted ‘20 to 30’ balloon missions globally over last decade, and latest episode is a US win, expert says

Monday 6 February 2023 15:30 , Alex Woodward

In a Washington Post op-ed, foriegn affairs writer David Ignatius reports that Chinese authorities have deployed intelligence-collecting balloon missions for years, with 20 to 30 around the globe in the last decade.

But the intelligence collected in the recent alleged mission would have only limited value, including a possibility that “the mission was an attempt to trigger US radar or electronic-warfare signatures, which would be valuable in a future conflict,” he writes, citing a Pentagon official.

An intelligence-collecting pod that could be recovered intact after a US fighter jet shot it down on Saturday could ultimately be useful as US authorities attempt to “reverse-engineer Chinese intelligence and communications systems,” he said.

“Thus, from an intelligence standpoint, Pentagon officials believe that the strange week-long balloon voyage was ultimately of more benefit to the United States than to China,” he writes. “By waiting until the balloon was over US territorial waters, the Biden administration was able to maximize the likelihood that the pod could be recovered while minimizing the risk that Americans would be injured by falling debris.”

Balloon over Latin America belongs to China, Beijing says

Monday 6 February 2023 15:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese officials have taken ownership of an “unmanned aircraft” above Latin America.

“Due to the impact of weather and limited self-steering ability, this aircraft seriously deviated from its scheduled course,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press conference on Monday.

The Pentagon, Colombian Air Force and Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority had identified the craft as similar to the high-altitude balloon shot down by a US fighter jet on Saturday.

When asked why China had been unable to keep track of its balloons, Mao said she is “not an expert” and added that “this is not the first time that control was lost of balloons used for scientific purposes by the international community.”

Also on Monday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said that the balloon’s course above the US “was accidental and it must not be misrepresented,” urging the US not to “escalate or broaden a tense situation.”

Trump claims reports of balloons in US airspace during his presidency is ‘disinformation'

Monday 6 February 2023 14:30 , Alex Woodward

A Chinese spy balloon crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii four months ago, US officials have said, according to Fox News.

At least one balloon flew over parts of Texas and Florida while Donald Trump was president, the outlet reported.

Biden administration officials have reported that a total of three balloons were discovered during the Trump administration.

The former president dismissed the reports as “disinformation”.

“This never happened. It would have never happened,” the former president said, claiming that China “respected us greatly” when he was in the White House, he told Fox News Digital.

“It never happened with us under the Trump administration and if it did, we would have shot it down immediately,” he added. “It’s disinformation.”

US Navy divers collecting debris from wreckage

Monday 6 February 2023 14:27 , Alex Woodward

After a US Air Force fighter jet shot down the surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, defense officials have started to recover the wreckage and “all debris and any material of intelligence value”.

“The debris is in 47 feet of water, primarily. The recovery that will make it fairly easy, actually. We planned for much deeper water,” according to the Pentagon. Wreckage is expected within a seven-mile radius.

WATCH: Moment Marco Rubio schooled that spy balloons also entered US airspace under Trump

Monday 6 February 2023 14:00 , Rachel Sharp

Marco Rubio was schooled live on-air that Chinese spy balloons had also entered US airspace under Donald Trump – after he had hit out at President Joe Biden over the matter.

The Republican Florida lawmaker appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday where he branded Mr Biden weak in the face of China’s provocative surveillance attempts and said he should have notified the public about what was going on.

“I don’t know why they waited so long to tell people about this, and they knew the trajectory that it was on it seems from late last week, or early last week,” he said.

At that moment, anchor Jonathan Karl pointed out that there was also three spy balloon incidents under Mr Trump which the American people are only learning about now.

“And we’re also told, by the way, that this happened three times under the previous president. Obviously, there were no public notifications there,” he said.

Mr Rubio went to open his mouth but said nothing.

The segment ended.

Journalist collates ‘highlights’ of Republicans’ ‘hot air’ about ‘Balloongate'

Monday 6 February 2023 13:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Journalist Aaron Rupar gathered the “highlights” of Republicans spewing “hot air” about the Chinese spy balloon.

“Republicans did their damndest on the Sunday shows to turn the Chinese balloon into a Hunter Biden-level scandal,” he tweeted.

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

Monday 6 February 2023 13:00 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump said China had “too much respect” for him to fly spy balloons into US airspace, in a push back against the Pentagon’s claims that such incidents happened at least thrice during his presidency.

Writing on Truth Social, the former president called the claims “fake information” while slamming the Joe Biden administration as a “disgrace”.

“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!” Mr Trump posted on his social media platform.

Read more here:

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

Trump national security officials say they never heard of balloons over US during previous admin

Monday 6 February 2023 12:30 , Gustaf Kilander

John Bolton, the former Trump White House national security adviser, told Fox that he was unaware of any balloons when he was in the administration.

“I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I’d never heard of any of that occurring before I joined in 2018,” he said. “I haven’t heard of anything that occurred after I left either.”

Mr Bolton said that if the Biden White House has “specific examples, they need to tell Congress”.

“I can say with 100 per cent certainty – not during my tenure,” he claimed.

Mr Bolton’s successor and national security adviser, Robert O’Brien told Fox that “unequivocally, I have never been briefed on the issue”.

Ric Grenell, the former acting Director of National Intelligence, told Fox that he conducted “one of the biggest intelligence deep dives on China, their spying and the origins of COVID” and that “it never came up”.

“If a balloon had come up, we would have known. Someone in the intelligence community would have known, and it would have bubbled up to me to brief the president,” he added.

The former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, who had the job after Mr Grenell, concurred.

“It’s not true. I can refute it,” he said during an appearance on Sunday Morning Futures. “The American people can refute it for themselves. Do you remember during the Trump administration, when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see, even with the naked eye, and that a media that hated Donald Trump wasn’t reporting? I don’t remember that either because it didn’t happen.”

Mark Esper, who served as defence secretary under Mr Trump, told CNN that “I don’t ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States”.

“I would remember that for sure,” he added.

Chris Miller, the former acting Defense Secretary, told Fox that he “never heard a whisper and I have to think if anything like that happened that would have been a huge issue”.

“No. Absolutely never heard of anything like that while I was in government or at the Pentagon,” he added.

Biden offers to brief Trump team on Chinese spy balloons they failed to catch

Monday 6 February 2023 12:00 , Rachel Sharp

The Biden administration has offered to brief former Donald Trump officials about the Chinese spy balloons that they failed to catch during his administration.

The Pentagon announced on Saturday that three suspected Chinese surveillance balloons travelled over the continental US during Mr Trump’s time in office.

Among the three separate encounters, one balloon is believed to have travelled over parts of Texas and Florida.

None of the balloons were shot down and the American people were not made aware of the situation.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the story:

Biden offers to brief Trump team on Chinese spy balloons they failed to catch

VIDEO: Student Captures Video of Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Being Shot Down

Monday 6 February 2023 11:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Three spy balloons over US during Trump admin weren’t discovered until Biden took office

Monday 6 February 2023 11:00 , Rachel Sharp

The Biden administration has now revealed that the three spy balloons which entered US airspace during the Trump administration weren’t discovered until President Joe Biden took office.

On Saturday, the Pentagon revealed that three suspected Chinese spy balloons travelled over the continental US during Mr Trump’s time in office.

Since then, Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the US intelligence, branding it “fake disinformation” and claiming Beijing had “too much respect” for him to have carried out surveillance in US airspace.

On Sunday, a senior Biden administration official revealed that all three potential surveillance programmes were missed by the Trump administration.

They were only discovered after President Joe Biden took office.

The official told CNN that the intelligence community is willing to provide briefings on the matter to some top Trump administration officials.

‘Get off it’: Tory MP urges Brits to delete TikTok after China ‘spy’ balloon controversy

Monday 6 February 2023 10:30 , Oliver Browning

Tory MP Alicia Kearns has urged Brits to “get off” TikTok over fears the app could be hacked.

Ms Kearns was speaking after China’s “spy” balloon was shot down off the US coast over the weekend.

“Get off it! Stop [using it],” the chair of the foreign affairs committee said on Sky News, after presenter Sophy Ridge admitted to using TikTok.

“What TikTok does is give away the data that makes you most vulnerable... there’s a reason why China has this app.”

Ms Kearns added, “we have to get far more serious about protecting ourselves”.