US President Joe Biden downplayed a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US mainland last week before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, saying it was a “minor infraction.”
The 80-year-old president said in an interview with Telemundo that the amount of intelligence collected by foreign countries is “enormous,” indicating that the spy balloon incident was normal.
“This is not a serious breach,” Biden said, “the total amount of intelligence information held by every country around the world is huge.” When asked if he regrets waiting so long before the ball is knocked down, he replied, “No.”
He said he wanted to shoot down the balloon “as soon as possible. But the intelligence community and the Department of Defense are concerned about the damage it could do even to a state as big as Montana,” adding, “This thing was gigantic. if he fell and ended up in a school in the countryside? So?” I told them to bring him down when the opportunity presented itself. They made a wise decision.”
Biden stressed that this is “a complete violation of international law. This is our airspace. Once it’s in our space, we can do whatever we want with it.”
???? In an exclusive interview with him #NoticiasTelemundo, @JoeBiden sits down with @JulioVaqueiro and discusses his future in politics, his aspirations and how he will handle the crisis at the border. pic.twitter.com/BCynP2qgay
— Noticias Telemundo (@TelemundoNews) February 10, 2023
And about the reason that prevents him from announcing his decision to run for a new term, Biden said: “I’m not ready to do it yet.” And about the fact that 37% of Democrats believe that he should not run again, he believes that “this is not true. That’s what opinion polls say.”
Source: New York Post + Telemundo.
