Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) revealed that the spy balloons that happened under Donald Trump were never discussed outside of the Pentagon.
Fox reported that the former president and his national security officials never had spy balloons that came over the United States under his administration. According to Waltz, the Pentagon is saying that there have been spy balloons over the U.S. in the past, including some over Florida that he said he was previously told about.
"I don't ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States," former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told CNN. "I would remember that for sure."
According to the report, a senior administration official told Fox Sunday that "U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration, but U.S. intel assesses [Chinese] government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time."
That confirms what Waltz had posted earlier on Sunday morning.
"The Office of the Secretary of Defense has informed my office that several Chinese balloon incidents have happened in the past few years - including over Florida. Why weren’t they shot down?" he asked. "And according to several Trump Admin national security officials — they were never informed of these intrusions by the Pentagon."
It's unknown why the Pentagon would not have informed the top officials, but it could be why the former president would have asserted that nothing like that happened under his leadership.
Waltz, a former Green Beret, hasn't revealed any further details what he was told in the past Chinese spying.
Fox cited former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who said that he'd "never heard of a Chinese spy balloon while he was in government."
A simple search turned up at least one incident of a Chinese spy balloon over India in 2019 from Tibet. Other balloons have now been spotted over Columbia and Costa Rica, CNN reported Sunday afternoon.
It's unclear whether the Pentagon will answer questions publicly on past balloons or whether that information is considered to be classified.
