Biden gave Congress a classified files briefing as China spy balloon went public: Mike Turner

Republican House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner revealed Sunday that he was offered a briefing in Congress on Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents last week, the same day Americans first learned about it. time of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the country.

“You can see they want to change the news,” the Ohio Republican told NBC News’ Meet The Press.

“There is nothing programmed on the globe, but Donald Trump is being programmed.”

The alleged surveillance device was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by US warplanes on Saturday after crossing several US states at an altitude low enough to be seen with the naked eye, alarming millions in the whole country.

Turner said Sunday that he has not yet been informed of any security assessment by the Biden administration for Congress about the incident.

He said he has yet to hear of a briefing on the recently shot down Chinese ‘spy balloon’ off the East Coast.

But officials will come next week to brief lawmakers on classified files recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, Turner said, where they had been improperly stored until an FBI raid in August.

In addition, Turner said Biden officials would brief lawmakers on recovered classified documents from former Vice President Mike Pence, as well as the president himself.

Biden has been found in possession of up to 30 classified files from his time as vice president and as a Delaware senator, which were recovered from his residence in Wilmington, Delaware and a Washington, DC think tank, where he had previously kept a private secret. . office.

Bipartisan requests for more information came from both sides of the aisle in Congress, and Turner said Sunday that all had been blocked.

That’s why the congressman now believes the Biden administration is offering the briefing now to distract attention from the diplomatic crisis caused by China’s ‘spy balloon’.

“The Biden administration told the American public that Donald Trump’s home was raided because he was a national security risk. But what we found in the intelligence community and the intelligence committee is that the Biden administration had absolutely not engaged anyone who is in national security on the issue of threats from these documents,” Turner explained.

This map shows the routes of two suspected Chinese spy balloons making their way across the hemisphere.

An F-22 Raptor fighter jet fired a single AIM-9X missile to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon and its payload, which was equipped with cameras, sensors and radar.

“It took Congress to step in and say, ‘We want a security threat.’ And then they tried to deny that they gave us the report of that threat.

He added: “What’s interesting is that at the time this balloon was made public, I got a notice not from the administration that I’m going to get a briefing on this balloon, but now they have to go to Congress to talk to us about Donald “. The Trump documents. You can see they want to change the news.

Turner criticized the Biden administration for “failing to try” to notify Congress about the balloon before it was first made public, even though it first crossed into North America on January 28.

However, when asked about the alleged Chinese spy balloon incidents that occurred during the previous administration of Donald Trump, Turner did not answer directly, instead focusing on Biden’s perceived lackluster public response.

Defense officials estimated the balloon was about the size of three buses at a height of 120 feet, and that the debris field would be considerable, estimated at seven miles when it was shot down off the South Carolina coast on Saturday.

“Well, that’s what they’re saying now, but I think the administration needs to step up because this is not the ability to say this is a crisis that was handed to them,” Turner said.

“This is a crisis that has played out as a result of this president during his administration allowing China to do a similar act before, without responding, and then, clearly, in this not seeing the urgency of what was unfolding.”

He said the Biden administration showed it “lacked urgency” by allowing the balloon to “cross our most sensitive sites” before it was finally shot down.

The president told reporters on Saturday that he wanted the balloon shot down on Wednesday, but was warned against making the order because of the risk of civilians being injured by falling debris.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Sunday that it fell into a seven-mile debris field in the Atlantic Ocean.