Democratic Rep. Beyer accuses Republicans of ‘panicking’ over Chinese language spy balloon

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., stated Saturday that Republicans “can cease panicking” after the Chinese language spy balloon that had traversed throughout American airspace for a number of days was shot down by the U.S. navy.

“Nice information for my Republican colleagues, they will cease panicking a couple of balloon now,” Beyer wrote in a tweet, shortly after Biden gave temporary remarks to the press concerning the mission to take away the Chinese language plane from the sky.

Beyer’s feedback got here shortly after the Chinese language spy balloon was faraway from airspace simply off the coast of South Carolina.

BIDEN SAYS HE AUTHORIZED PENTAGON DAYS AGO TO SHOOT DOWN CHINESE SPY BALLOON

The balloon, which made its means throughout North Carolina and South Carolina Saturday morning, was shot down by a U.S. navy F-22 utilizing a heat-seeking missile on Saturday afternoon.

Beyer confronted scandal final 12 months after an investigation concluded that an aide in his workplace had been engaged on behalf of the Chinese language Embassy to arrange conferences with congressional places of work. An investigation performed by the Home Sergeant-at-Arms found the allegations towards the aide, recognized as Barbara Hamlett, and she or he was subsequently terminated in October.

Beyer “was completely unaware of those actions,” the congressman’s Deputy Chief of Employees Aaron Fritschner stated on the time. “As quickly as he discovered of them, he adopted each directive he was given by safety officers. The staffer in query is not employed by the workplace of Congressman Beyer.”

SCHUMER BREAKS SILENCE ON CHINESE SPY BALLOON, PRAISES BIDEN ADMIN FOR SHOOTING IT DOWN

President Biden stated after the Saturday operation that he gave authorization on Wednesday to shoot down the balloon “as quickly as attainable,” and the Pentagon selected to attend to shoot it down till it was over the ocean.

“They efficiently took it down and I wish to praise our aviators who did it and we’ll have extra to report on a bit of later,” Biden added.

Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin additionally acknowledged that the order was given to the navy on Wednesday and that the Protection Division determined to attend.

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“On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as quickly because the mission might be completed with out undue danger to American lives below the balloon’s path,” Lloyd stated.

A number of Republican lawmakers and governors have criticized the Biden administration for its lack of communication on the difficulty and for a delay in taking pictures the balloon out of American airspace whereas it hovered over sparsely populated areas of the nation.

Fox Information’ Andrew Mark Miller and Landon Mion contributed to this text.

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