Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is apparently planning to bring a large white balloon to the State of the Union address in order to needle the Biden administration over its handling of a reported Chinese spy balloon that floated over the US for several days.
Ms Greene posted a video of her walking around with the large white balloon on Tuesday, along with the caption “It’s just an innocent balloon...#SOTU.”
Republicans, including Ms Greene, have been criticising the Biden administration for not acting faster to down a balloon suspected of being a Chinese spy craft. Mr Biden said he had hoped to shoot the balloon down sooner, but military officials advised him to wait until the balloon was over water to avoid the debris causing damage to ground structures and civilians.
Joe Biden is delivering the State of the Union address on Tuesday night in Washington DC.
Democrats have responded to the criticism of Mr Biden by pointing out that similar balloons had flown over the US during the Trump administration.
A Pentagon official shared on Sunday that similar aircraft had been spotted during the Trump administration, which the former president denied on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the 'heat' off the slow moving Biden fools," Donald Trump said in a post. "China had too much respect from 'TRUMP' for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION."
Several former defense officials from the Trump administration also denied the claims.
“I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I’d never heard of any of that occurring before I joined in 2018,” Former National Security Advisor John Bolton told Fox News. “I haven’t heard of anything that occurred after I left either.”
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told Fox News that the claim was "not true" and that the "media that hated Donald Trump" would have reported on it had it occurred.
Ms Greene said in a tweet on Tuesday that if the Pentagon's claims are true, they should be investigated and held accountable for "breaking rank" with Mr Trump.
“If it’s true the Pentagon purposely did NOT tell President Trump of Chinese Spy Balloons during his administration then we had a serious breach in command during the Trump admin,” Ms Greene said on Twitter. "The POTUS is the Commander in Chief. We must investigate and hold accountable those who broke rank."
