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Republican John Cornyn shoots down Trump balloon denialism — and says he believes the Air Force
February 07, 2023
WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) denied that a spy balloon from China flew over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump's administration. Greene isn't on the intelligence committee or part of the "Gang of 8," but she's certain that the Pentagon is lying about the U.S. Air Force's report on the 2019 balloon.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Raw Story that he's not aligning himself with his fellow Republicans' conspiracy theories.
While he called the spy balloon "disturbing," he explained that they would receive a briefing Tuesday ahead of the State of the Union address.
"The only good thing to come out of this is to highlight how aggressive the Chinese are at espionage and we know they will stop at nothing. But this is kind of like a thumb in the eye. Obviously, if people don't understand TikTok and some of the cyberattacks of the Office of Personnel Management a few years ago, where millions of security applications were sucked up. But they do understand this. So, hopefully, it'll encourage greater vigilance not only by the American people but by Congress."
IN OTHER NEWS: George Santos sends shocked staffers out to face angry constituents
"This seems to me to be a huge mistake but it also raises the issue of why there were other balloons transiting the United States that the previous administration didn't know about and wasn't told about," Cornyn added.
"It didn't happen!" Greene told reporters about the balloon. "It did not happen. President Trump said it didn't happen, people in his former administration said it didn't happen, people who didn't even like President Trump from his former administration said it didn't happen -- and then all of a sudden, poof, like a spy balloon has happened? It's crazy!"
The Air Force assessment report said that the 2019 incident wasn't revealed to the White House until after Trump was out of office.
With additional reporting by Matt Laslo
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Rep. George Santos (R-NY) declined on Tuesday to speak to constituents who are angry about lies he told to win the 2022 election.
The constituents sought to confront Santos just hours after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said an ethics investigation was expected.
Video captured the reaction as staffers opened the congressman's door to find a waiting horde of voters and reporters.
"Oh, my God!" one staffer exclaimed.
A constituent explained that the group had assembled because of "the lies, the deceit."
"We want a vote to expel," the group's spokesperson said. "We want him to respond to us."
The group presented a petition demanding Santos' removal from office.
Watch the video clips below or at this link.
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During a House hearing on Tuesday, the grandstanding antics practiced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) came back to bite her when she was reminded of a voting position the GOP took during the omnibus bill.
Boebert was at the conclusion of a long-winded inquiry where she continuously cut off the three U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who testified, often redirected their answers to praise for former President Donald Trump and ranted on about the increasing dangers of immigrants in the country, insisting that terrorists, criminals and sex traffickers make up a significant portion of those who enter the country.
Boebert's disposition towards the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents included making them copy her responses as their answer, raising her voice, and talking over the agents as they began their response to abruptly shut down any detailed answer.
The next target for Boebert's grandstanding was the subject of U.S. Customs and Border Protection suicides by agents as she blamed Joe Biden's border policies for the increased number of suicides. Boebert questioned agent Gloria Chavez, who confirmed that suicides had increased.
RELATED: Katie Porter dismantles GOP's Biden-bashing talking points
“There is an invasion happening at our southern border,” Boebert said. “And it’s happening because Joe Biden invoked amnesty and changed the security border policies that were working for our country. And he won’t change it back… and this is intentional. In fact, their policy is a success. It’s not a failure, because this is their intent.”
Boebert's inquiry time expired shortly after.
Immediately after Boebert concluded, Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-California) noted that Boebert and many of her GOP colleagues voted against a $23 million budget for suicide prevention for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents that was in the omnibus bill.
“I just want to point out to the representative from Colorado that we mourn with the CPB on the loss of their officers who died by suicide, but we also passed $23 million for suicide prevention, which the majority ended up voting against,” Gomez said.
Watch video below or at this link.
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