Three Chinese spy balloons entered the US during the Trump administration, but they were never shot down or publicly disclosed.

In reporting the latest of the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, The US Department of Defense said three other of these crafts 'briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.

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.

One such Republican was US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted on Saturday: 'I just spoke with our GREAT America First President Trump. He would have never allowed China to fly a spy balloon over our country and our military bases and assets.

'Pres Trump would have shot it down before it entered the US.'

Biden first became aware of the balloon on January 28, when it was spotted over Alaska. The US military tracked it over Canadian airspace and as it re-entered US territory on Tuesday.

Fearing the debris could hit 'sensitive' areas as it traveled across the country, officials warned the president not to shoot it down until it was flying over the ocean.

US officials confirmed that an F-22 Raptor fighter jet took down the balloon with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2.38pm on Saturday, off the coast of Myrtle beach.

The delayed response, however, drew ire from GOP officials, blasting Biden for not immediately going through with the order to take down the balloon.

The GOP officials have not publicly commented on the revelation that such balloons were encountered during the Trump administration.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11714657/Three-Chinese-spy-balloons-infiltrated-Trump-administration.html

Fearing the debris could hit 'sensitive' areas as it traveled across the country, officials warned the president not to shoot it down until it was flying over the ocean.

SIZE OF CHINESE ‘SPY’ BALLOON EQUALS THREE BUSES – US DEFENSE OFFICIAL.

Pentagon said the balloon, which is confirmed to be from China, isn’t posing any ‘”military or physical” threat to the people living in the US, but, the government cited public safety as the reason for not shooting it down.

Owing to its large size, the debris caused by the balloon and its payload being shot down could cause serious damage to civilians.

ABC 7 News reports, a senior U.S. defense official said the Chinese balloon is as big as three buses. To put this into perspective, a typical city transit bus in America, as per Dimensions and Drawings, is about 12 meters long, 3 meters tall, and 2.5 meters wide.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has maintained, it has taken necessary measures to prevent the balloon from collecting sensitive information.

Of course. The Republicans are hypocrites and have gone quiet after realizing Trump failed to even tell the American citizens that his administration had 3 chinese balloons.

Republicans are hypocrite. They have now gone deaf and dumb.

More hypocrisy from hypocrites. This man will never get over the fact that Biden won and he lost.