Biden says it was 'always my position' to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon trends now
President Joe Biden returned to the White House from Camp David Monday to say it was 'always' his intention to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S. military jet downed on Saturday.
His comments came amid ongoing pressure from Republicans in Congress and criticism that he should have acted sooner, with congressional committees set to look into the matter and lawmakers demanding further briefings.
Asked if it was always his view to shoot it down, Biden responded, 'Oh no, it was always my position. Once it came over into the United States from Canada, I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate.'
'They concluded we should not shoot it down over land, it was not a serious threat and we should wait until it got across the water.' His comments came as the Pentagon revealed the spy balloon was 200-feet-tall and included a massive payload – one reason officials raised concerns about the risks posed by flying debris in the event of an operation to down it over land.
'They concluded we should not shoot it down over land, it was not a serious threat and we should wait until it got across the water,' President Biden said, describing advice he got from the Pentagon about the Chinese spy balloon
The president was also asked why he thought China would commit such a 'brazen' act.
After a long pause, he responded: 'Because they're the Chinese government.'
His comments came minutes after White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the shoot-down over the waters off the South Carolina coast.
She said it 'wasn't just the safest option, it maximized the chance of recovery' of the payload, 'giving us a better chance to get information from the Chinese surveillance.'
As Navy divers work to recover debris from the downed Chinese spy balloon, a top general said Monday that the U.S. is investigating whether it was carrying explosives, describing it as 200-feet tall, weighing thousands of pounds and with a payload the size of a jetliner.
'So, I can't confirm whether it had explosives or not. Anytime you down something like this, we make an assumption that that potential exists,' said Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, on a briefing call with reporters.
'We did not associate the potential of having explosives with a threat to dropping weapons, those kinds of things, but out of a precaution, abundance of safety for not only our military people and the public, we have to make assumptions such as that.'
Biden came back late from Camp David after prepping for his State of the Union address Tuesday
The general's description followed a briefing by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who defended President Joe Biden's decision to wait and shoot down the Chinese craft until it was over South Carolina's coastline on Saturday.
'Because the president decided they wouldn't shoot it down until he could do so safely - and that meant over water - that afforded us a terrific opportunity to gain a better understanding, to study
