President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday that the United States would “take care” of the Chinese spy balloon that is being monitored by the Pentagon.
When asked if the U.S. government would shoot down the balloon, Biden said “we will take care of it,” but did not elaborate on what steps would be taken next, according to Fox News. The comment broke the president’s silence on a topic that has captured the attention of millions.
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The balloon was initially reported over Billings, Montana, but has since changed course and is now in the middle of the country. Reports have claimed the balloon is Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday night. But by Saturday morning the balloon was over the Carolinas.
The Pentagon announced it was monitoring a Chinese surveillance balloon over Billings on Thursday evening, but it had been monitoring the balloon for several days. Biden was notified of the balloon, which invaded U.S. airspace, on Tuesday. A second balloon was discovered over Latin America on Friday.
China has attempted to dismiss the balloon as a “civilian weather balloon,” but U.S. intelligence officials have rejected the narrative, and said it believes both balloons are gathering surveillance.
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Members of Congress, especially Republicans, have urged the administration to shoot the balloon down. Democrats however claimed there was too much of a risk of civilian harm to justify shooting it down, even over sparsely populated areas like in Montana.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he would rather own the balloon “intact” than pick up the charred remains if it was shot down.
