In a fiery exchange on Monday, former President Donald Trump strongly criticized President Joe Biden for his recent comments regarding the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon back in February.
According to Fox News, Biden allegedly referred to the incident as “more embarrassing than intentional” during a press briefing on Saturday. Trump, in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, expressed his vehement disagreement, labeling Biden’s statement as “utterly nonsensical.”
WATCH:
Air Force fighters shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon Feb. 4, after it transited across the United States and flew near sensitive sites, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The former base houses intercontinental ballistic missiles, while the Air Force operates B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from the latter.
China claimed that the balloon was a civilian meteorological research platform and protested it being shot down. The Department of Defense confirmed a second spy balloon flew over Latin American countries Feb. 3.
“They would have never had a spy balloon if I was president. There wouldn’t be a spy balloon over our country,” Trump added. “That spy balloon was going over our nuclear sites taking pictures and we killed it after it had — it was leaving, going back home to China, wherever it was going. But we shot it down over the ocean after it had done all of its work. They don’t keep it on the balloon and you pick it up. That stuff is sent back to China instantaneously as it’s taken.”
Trump administration officials have disputed claims by the Department of Defense that Chinese spy balloons overflew the country during Trump’s tenure in office.
