Ric Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence under Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Monday there were no such incidents of a Chinese surveillance balloon going over United States territory during the Trump administration despite claims by the Biden administration that three such incursions occurred.
White House National Security Adviser John Kirby is among the U.S. officials who claim three incidents occurred during the Trump administration, although not for as long as the most recent event.
Kirby said Monday he offered to brief Trump administration officials about the forensics the Biden administration used in its findings. Newsmax's James Rosen reported Grenell turned down the invite.
Grenell said on "American Agenda" he nor anyone else in the administration were aware of such incidents.
"No, of course not," he said. "We were not aware of it. Let's be clear what Kirby is saying. He is saying that they went through, and they recreated the past, and they now have a story to tell of how it happened, but individuals weren't informed of it.
"First of all, no one believes that. The bureaucracy is scrambling to now cover for the Joe Biden lies from the beginning."
Grenell said he sees a pattern with the Biden administration excusing failures by saying they also happened during Donald Trump's presidency.
"How many times have we heard, 'well, this happened under Trump, too,'" Grenell said. "This is their excuse for everything, and now they have their friends in the bureaucracy piecing together some sort of story that they now want to go back and brief some Trump administration officials and basically say, 'You remember this? You remember this?' We're going to lead the witness into some sort of storytelling."
Grenell said the incident shows how much the Chinese Communist Party is upping its game in terms of spying.
"We have to be very concerned about a China on the offense," Grenell said. "We've seen over the last couple of years that they have really upped their game in terms of spying. … We need to be much more aggressive and realistic and clear-eyed."
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