Donald Trump, Mr. “Tough” on China, was so soft that President Biden had to order heightened vigilance over Chinese spy efforts.
Hours after learning that Trump administration officials knew about the spy balloon but not Trump and many of his top lieutenants, we are now told that the only reason we know about these Trump balloons is because President Biden has ordered the intelligence community to “increase both our vigilance and the resources we have deployed to uncover Chinese espionage attempts against the United States.”
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also said Monday that earlier surveillance balloons were spotted early in the Biden administration because Biden was directing intelligence agencies to “increase both our vigilance and the means we use to… Chinese spying attempts against the United States,” CNN reported.
“Because the intelligence agencies have made this a priority at President Biden’s direction, we’ve increased our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we’ve increased our ability to see things that the Trump administration couldn’t see,” Sullivan said.
“And we could also go back and look at the historical patterns. And that led us to understand that during the Trump administration, as you said, there were several instances where the surveillance balloons crossed American airspace and territory,” he added.
This should be the part where we ask why President Biden knew he needed to heighten vigilance against Chinese espionage activities after Trump’s four-year tenure, especially given that Donald Trump had a secret Chinese bank account during his presidency.
During a 2020 presidential debate, Trump said the Chinese account “was closed in 2015, I think,” claiming, “I closed it before I even ran for president, let alone became president.”
It begs the question, what deals did Trump do in China when he was President?
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) wrote on Twitter: “Trump had bank accounts in China during his tenure until 2018. In general, you only have bank accounts abroad if you transact in that country’s currency. What business did Trump do in China when he was President?”
Trump had bank accounts in China during his tenure until 2018.
In general, you only have bank accounts abroad if you transact in that country’s currency.
What deals did Trump do in China when he was president? https://t.co/SQhyPEOOxi
— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) December 30, 2022
Add everything including a huge secret document theft with an ancillary order of deliberately not keeping secure and refusing to return the documents upon request and subpoena. Now add a secret Chinese bank account and the business implications. And finally, a government that hasn’t prioritized the discovery of Chinese spy balloons at best.
A large part of this story is missing, and that is: what did Trump do in China when he was President?
This whole Chinese spy balloon “scandal” keeps exploding in the faces of Republicans, which was predictable because nowadays they criticize before they ask any questions.
But now they not only have eggs in their faces, they also look anti-American naked. They only care about a problem if it can be used as a club to hurt President Biden.
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