White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was roasted online after blaming the Chinese spy balloon incident on the Trump administration.
This comes after a Chinese high-altitude balloon was spotted flying over sensitive sites across the country last week, with the Department of Defense (DOD) claiming that it was collecting information. The balloon has since been taken down by the U.S. Air Force on Saturday.
WH press secretary gets scorched for fumbled explanation on China spy flights: 'What a load of crap' https://t.co/Z7vLQ3Gol1
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 7, 2023
A defense official then said on Saturday that there have been three instances of Chinese spy balloons that briefly traveled over the U.S. during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. Trump and his top defense and national security officials said that they were never briefed on any Chinese spy flights.
During the White House press briefing on Monday, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre how it is possible that the Trump administration was never informed by the balloons.
“Yeah, so, look, I think that — and we have talked about this before, about how the — when it — when the PRC government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times, as you just mentioned, during the President’s — the prior administration and once that we know of the beginning of this administration’s,” she said. “But never for this duration of time, as we know,” the press secretary explained.
Jean-Pierre’s answer angered Republicans, with many taking to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction with her explanation.
“It’s so cringe to watch her lie, deflect, mumble, stumble, make it up as she goes along and ignore adult questions,” public relations specialist Cheryl Riley tweeted.
“KJP does a disservice when she does not prep on simple questions like this. It has been news today that Trump admin officials were on the record saying these types of Chinese balloons did not happen then,” Independent Women’s Forum fellow Erin Perrine tweeted. “Seriously folks. Not hard to guess what questions might come up. Prep.”
Since the U.S. took down the balloon, China’s Defense Ministry spokesperson, Tan Kefei, said in a statement that the communist country “reserves the right” to deal with “similar situations.”
“The US used force to attack our civilian unmanned airship, which is an obvious overreaction. We express solemn protest against this move by the US side,” Kefei said, adding that China “reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations.”
