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That claim about three Chinese spy balloons on Trump's watch is deflating fast
American Thinker ^ | 2.5.23 | Monica Showalter

Posted on 02/05/2023 12:09:08 PM PST by conservative98

The Milley boys at the Pentagon have come up with a new public relations "save" for Joe Biden and his pathetic indecisiveness about a China spy balloon brazenly traversing the continental United States until it was shot down over the Atlantic yesterday.

According to the Pentagon's website, defense.gov:

[cut]

You know the press is going to be dining out on this for the next ten news cycles.

There's just one problem, though -- the claim that Trump saw three Chinese balloons traverse through the U.S. on his watch and did nothing is ... deflating fast.

First, we have an explicit denial from someone who would have known.

According to the Daily Mail:

The revelation startled Mark Esper, the former Secretary of Defense, and comes as Trump and other Republicans claimed he would have shot down the balloon while calling on Joe Biden to resign over the stalled attack on the craft.

...and...

Esper told CNN that he was 'surprised' by the Pentagon's statement, saying he was never told about Chinese surveillance balloons entering the US when he served between July 2019 to November 2020.

'I don't ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States,' Esper said, adding that 'I would remember that for sure.'

He wasn't the only one. There's also him:

Tonight, it's been reported that at least 3 Chinese spy balloons crossed the U.S. during Trump's administration.

Yesterday afternoon, Mike Pompeo told Fox News he was not aware of this happening "during our four years in office"

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: balloon; biden; johnbasham; johnbolton; johnratcliffe; markesper; mikepompeo; pdjt; pompeo; robertobrien; spyballoon; trump
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To: plain talk

They’ll say it’s classified info.


21 posted on 02/05/2023 12:28:46 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TP)
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To: PGR88

LOL balloon with a Chinese food carry out container......LOL.


22 posted on 02/05/2023 12:29:45 PM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: conservative98

the facts dont matter to the left- they just keep repeating the leis over and over until people are brainwashed- and viola- the ‘New Truth’ (according to the left) is born-


23 posted on 02/05/2023 12:31:03 PM PST by Bob434
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To: FamiliarFace

Yeah - probably. But whoever is claiming this stuff happened on Trump’s watch is on the hook to defend their assertion and produce evidence.


24 posted on 02/05/2023 12:33:58 PM PST by plain talk
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To: CatOwner

Sadly, you are correct. The key lie is always the first one when they frame the story. Few folks ever see the limited coverage where the story completely falls apart.

It is blatantly dishonest.

This is a good article. It will be seen by .01 % of Americans. You could do a poll in 2 years and 55% of the country will tell you that China sent balloons over the US during the Trump administration.

This kind of crap works. Don’t believe me? Look at the polling in the past couple of years on Charlottesville or Schiff’s description of the phone call to Ukraine. Half the country still believes the first lie.

Harry Reid had no shame about lying and he said it best -
“well it worked didn’t it?” Most of the American media is no different now than Harry Reid.


25 posted on 02/05/2023 12:34:18 PM PST by volunbeer (We are living 2nd Thessalonians)
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To: conservative98
Of course it's bullbleep. If it had happened some filthy Rat Party operative would have leaked it to the Amazon Compost and MSLSD.
26 posted on 02/05/2023 12:36:12 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (No Doubt Now: Stolen Election)
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To: Sarah Barracuda

It is not so much that Biden looks like a fool as it is that he is an apparent traitor.


27 posted on 02/05/2023 12:40:19 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (We are not fit to live free but must be enslaved to control the chaos of our unfettered appetites.)
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To: conservative98

IF true, there’s a papertrail somewhere...


28 posted on 02/05/2023 12:40:37 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: PGR88

Props for the meme.


29 posted on 02/05/2023 12:41:33 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: conservative98

The Neverending Coup never ends.


30 posted on 02/05/2023 12:42:04 PM PST by Quentin Quarantino
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To: conservative98

It is not indecisiveness it is treason. It is way past time to fess up to it.


31 posted on 02/05/2023 12:42:38 PM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: FamiliarFace
You can "classify" a sunset but people will have still seen it.

There was no way to "classify" the story about the spy balloon because a whole bunch of Americans looked and saw it.

So if it happened before people would have seen it and recorded it.

So... show me the twitter posts.

32 posted on 02/05/2023 12:43:08 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: conservative98

50 CIA agent gambit redux. Despicable.


33 posted on 02/05/2023 12:44:28 PM PST by DeplorablePaul (protesters)
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To: conservative98

even that rat fink Bolton tells the truth saying this NEVER HAPPENED and if anyone wanted to be best buds with the media and find a way to trash Trump it would be Bolton


34 posted on 02/05/2023 12:45:50 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: conservative98

The Media-Dem Party has a well-worn playbook: Come up with a lie, and spread it far and wide. When it is exposed as a lie, don’t apologize, just move on to another lie. Rinse and repeat.


35 posted on 02/05/2023 12:48:53 PM PST by euram (allALL)
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To: conservative98

To: shadowlands1960
Did any at the Pentagon bother to inform the President?

6 posted on 2/4/2023, 7:44:45 PM by BenLurkin

https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4128632/posts?page=6#6

Apparently not!


36 posted on 02/05/2023 12:49:17 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: conservative98

Am surprised the Dems haven’t claimed the balloons belonged to Trump. Maybe next week.


37 posted on 02/05/2023 12:51:07 PM PST by chopperk ( )
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To: conservative98

The saddest part is that there are Americans who actually accept these lies as the truth.


38 posted on 02/05/2023 12:52:13 PM PST by 353FMG (Secretly practicing my Putin swagger..)
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To: conservative98

The saddest part is that there are Americans who actually accept these lies as the truth. Lying like a democrat dog.


39 posted on 02/05/2023 12:55:20 PM PST by 353FMG (Secretly practicing my Putin swagger..)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

I think the folks who told this whopper are going to try the classified excuse if they think they can get away with it, and lots of people will believe them.

The problem with this is that we all KNOW that if it had been true, the intelligence community would have leaked it to the press back then, and it would’ve been PLASTERED across every media format. No way they would have stayed quiet about it. NONE.


40 posted on 02/05/2023 1:06:39 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TP)
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