Source: United States Senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: James Arnold or Caroline Tabler (202) 224-2353
February 5, 2023
ICYMI: Biden Failed China’s Balloon Trial
Click here to view Senator Cotton’s interview.
In case you missed it – Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sat down with Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday to discuss the Biden administration’s response to a Chinese balloon that floated over the U.S. and the Department of Justice’s investigations into the handling of classified documents by former President Trump and President Biden.
The interview may be found here. An excerpt of the interview is below.
What began as a spy balloon has become a trial balloon, testing President Biden’s strength and resolve. Unfortunately, the president failed that test, and that’s dangerous for the American people. The president was paralyzed for an entire week by a balloon. We should have shot this balloon down over the Aleutian Islands; we should never have allowed it to transit the entire continental United States.
And I think there’s a lot of open questions that the administration needs to answer to congress, on behalf of the American people, about why they didn’t. I think part of it is, the president’s reluctance to take any action that would be viewed as provocative or confrontational towards the Chinese communists. I would say what’s provocative and confrontational is sending a spy balloon all across America.
But second, I do believe the administration wanted to salvage the secretary of state’s trip on Friday night, and they got through Thursday afternoon. Thankfully civilians in Montana and the Billings Gazette identified this balloon and blew the whistle on it, and finally the administration fessed up to the American people. It took another twelve hours before the secretary of state cancelled what was already an ill-advised trip. So, I think there’s a lot of answers for the administration to provide the American people.
###