TMZ.com
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5:13 PM PT — China has condemned the downing of their air balloon, calling it an “excessive overreaction,” while also expressing “strong dissatisfaction” for the move.
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1:16 PM PT — Biden just addressed the balloon operation, saying he ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible — noting he had given that order on Wednesday. He told reporters that he was informed that the safest way to do it would be to wait until it was above open waters.
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Here’s the (potential) problem with that … the White House has gone on record to say JB was first briefed about the balloon on Tuesday, but Bloomberg reports his administration had actually become aware of its presence as early as Jan. 28th (last Saturday).
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No other major outlets have confirmed that … but, if true, it would indicate Biden’s camp was trying to keep this hush-hush until they couldn’t any longer. Very similar to the classified docs scandal — which was also on their radar long before anyone publicly knew about it.
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So, if Joe was actually first told about it on Tuesday — but his administration was aware of it way earlier — what the heck is going on with the information funnel for our CiC???
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12:18 PM PT — TMZ has obtained video of the moment the balloon was struck, and it’s pretty damn dramatic … and something you might see in a Tom Cruise-led movie.
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Check it out … you see a fighter jet approaching the balloon, and then launch a projectile that strikes the aircraft and blows it up. As you can hear, it was quite a sight to the people on the ground too.
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12:02 PM PT — The Chinese spy balloon, which wasn’t carrying passengers, has been shot down.
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FOX News got some great footage of the moment it was hit and started to plummet down to the ocean. Word is, the thing was hit with missiles over Surfside Beach in South Carolina. It looks like fighter jets were circling it prior to firing.
A Chinese spy balloon that’s been hovering over the U.S. throughout the week is probably going to meet its maker once it reaches the deep blue … something President Biden teased.
JB made one of his first public comments about the foreign aircraft Saturday while out in Syracuse, NY — where he was asked about it by a reporter … to whom he casually responded, “We’re going to take care of it.” Reports from AP and ABC News suggest it’s going down.
According to the outlets, the Biden administration is strongly considering shooting the balloon while it’s floating over the Atlantic Ocean … that way, there’s no risk of any debris crashing into anything or anybody on the ground. The reports say U.S. officials have cleared airspace for this, and that they would collect the debris for further examination thereafter.
As of Saturday morning, the balloon could be seen fly above the Carolinas and heading East. Estimates say it should be over water sometime this afternoon, so it could go down later today.
The Prez was reportedly first briefed on the fact the balloon had entered our territory on Tuesday, and the first sightings of it over Montana and other midwestern states began surfacing Wednesday. China says it’s an unmanned weather balloon conducting research which accidentally veered off course and floated our way … but the U.S. has called BS.
Instead, intelligence officials are saying it’s a surveillance balloon … and they believe it was sent here intentionally. In any case, it’s not great for diplomatic relations right now.
A second balloon was also spotted floating above Latin America today. Time will tell if it’s flight comes to an end … and what any potential findings could mean for how we deal with China.
Things have been bumpy lately with the superpower nation, especially as it pertains to predictions about war and whatnot. With this brazen move, it doesn’t bode well.
The balloon takedown could happen any moment now … stay tuned.
Originally Published — 10:30 AM PT
