During Donald Trump's presidency: According to the Pentagon, spy balloons have been sighted over the USA earlier

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Ex-President Donald Trump

PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON / REUTERS

According to the US Department of Defense, four spy balloons have previously flown over US territory, three of them during Donald Trump's presidency.

This was announced by a Pentagon employee.

"People's Republic of China surveillance balloons transited the continental United States at least three times briefly during the previous administration," US Northern Command commander Glen VanHerck said during a press briefing.

A balloon is said to have been sighted during the tenure of current US President Joe Biden.

However, the balloons always flew shorter over the USA than in the current case.

The Republicans had recently criticized Biden harshly because they believed he had the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down too late.

The ex-president and those around him reacted with outrage to the news that there were similar incidents during Trump's tenure.

This is "disinformation," Trump wrote on the social network "Truth Social".

The government would only spread this "to take the pressure off the sluggish Biden fools." Several high-ranking former Trump employees also denied to the media that they had been informed by the responsible authorities about balloon flights.

VanHerck acknowledged that there has been an "awareness gap" with this type of missile.

Only through the use of additional sources has it now turned out that balloons have already approached the USA in the past or even crossed the country.

China accuses US of "overreacting".

The shooting down of the alleged spy balloon by a US fighter jet had recently intensified the already existing tensions between China and the USA.

Beijing rejected the allegations of espionage and spoke of a civilian research balloon that collects weather data and went astray.

After the shooting, Beijing was angry and spoke of an "obvious overreaction".

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