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Republican House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner revealed on Sunday that he was offered a Congressional briefing on Donald Trump‘s handling of classified documents last week – on the same day Americans first learned of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the country.
‘You can see they want to change the news,’ the Ohio Republican told NBC News’ Meet The Press.
‘There is nothing scheduled on the balloon, but they’re scheduling Donald Trump.’
The alleged surveillance device was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by American fighter jets on Saturday after crossing over multiple U.S. states at a low enough altitude to be seen by the naked eye – alarming millions across the country.
Turner said Sunday that he has not yet been made aware of any coming security assessments by the Biden administration for Congress on the incident.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, a Republican, said there would be a Capitol Hill briefing this week regarding classified documents
He said he has not yet heard about a briefing regarding the Chinese ‘spy balloon’ recently shot down off the East Coast
But officials are coming next week to brief lawmakers on classified files recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, Turner said, where they had been improperly stored until an August FBI raid.
Additionally, Turner said Biden officials would brief lawmakers on classified documents recovered from former Vice President Mike Pence, as well as from the president himself.
Biden has been found in possession of as many as 30 classified files from his time as vice president and as a senator from Delaware, which were recovered from his Wilmington, Delaware residence and a Washingon, DC think tank where he’d previously kept a private office.
Bipartisan requests for more information came from both sides of the aisle in Congress – and Turner claimed Sunday that they’d all been stonewalled.
It’s why the congressman now believes the Biden administration is offering the briefing now to distract from the diplomatic crisis caused by China’s ‘spy balloon.’
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‘The Biden administration told the American public that they raided Donald Trump’s home because it was a national security risk. But what we found in the intelligence community and the intelligence committee is that the Biden administration had not engaged at all anyone who is in national security on the issue of threats from these documents,’ Turner explained.
This map shows the routes of two suspected Chinese spy balloons making their way across the hemisphere
An F-22 Raptor fighter jet fired a single AIM-9X missile to take down a Chinese spy balloon and its payload, which was equipped with cameras, sensors and radars
‘It took Congress to step in and say, “We want a security threat.” And then they tried to deny giving the briefing to us from that threat.’
He added, ‘What’s interesting is that the moment this balloon became public, I got a notice not from the administration that I’m going to get a briefing on this balloon, but they have to rush to Congress now to talk to us about Donald Trump’s documents. You can see they want to change the news.’
Turner blasted the Biden administration for ‘making no attempt’ notify Congress of the balloon before it was first made public, despite it first crossing into North America on January 28.
However, when asked about the alleged Chinese spy balloon incidents that occurred during the previous administration under Donald Trump, Turner did not answer directly – instead pivoting to Biden’s perceived lackluster public response.
Defense officials estimated the balloon was about the size of three buses at a height of 120 feet, and that the debris field would be substantial, estimated at seven miles when it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday
‘Well, that’s what they’re saying now, but I think that the administration needs to come forward because this is not an ability to say that this is a crisis that was handed to them,’ Turner said.
‘This is a crisis that has developed as a result of this president during his administration, allowing China to do a similar act before, not responding, and then, clearly, in this one not seeing the urgency of what was unfolding.’
He said the Biden administration showed it ‘lacked urgency’ by allowing the balloon to ‘go across our most sensitive sites’ before it was finally shot down.
The president told reporters on Saturday that he wanted the balloon shot down on Wednesday, but was cautioned against making the order due to the risk of civilians getting hurt by falling debris.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Sunday that it fell within a seven-mile debris field in the Atlantic Ocean.
