Former President Donald Trump's administration reportedly failed to detect at least three possible Chinese spy balloons during his time in office.
A Department of Defense official revealed over the weekend the existence of the three balloons after President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to shoot down a fourth balloon.
In a statement to Fox News, Trump said that the balloon incidents "never happened" during his presidency.
An official, however, confirmed to Fox News that the balloons had only been "discovered after" Trump left office.
"They went undetected," the official said. "These balloons are all part of a PRC fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations, which have also violated the sovereignty of other countries."
"Two things can be true at once: this happened and it wasn’t detected," the person added.
It was not immediately clear why the balloons were not detected under the Trump administration.
