John Kirby has obviously been giving a larger role in the regular White House briefings, with Karine Jean-Pierre getting a bit of a break. Monday was another example of that:
Karine Jean-Pierre did not take a single question during today's White House press briefing. pic.twitter.com/YEBvhuiN5g
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 13, 2023
It seems that the White House press secretary wasn’t eager to address questions:
Historic levels of transparency.
— JWF (@JammieWF) February 13, 2023
At issue is the increasing number of “unidentified object” incursions going on in various parts of the country:
An unidentified object shot down Sunday over Lake Huron — the fourth flying object in less than two weeks to have been downed over North American airspace — was described earlier Sunday by a senior administration official as an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernible payload.
VanHerck described the objects shot down Friday, Saturday and Sunday by North American forces as being similar in size and shape. One issue in getting a better description, he said, is that fighter jets are traveling at relatively high speeds when eyes are put on them, at roughly 200 mph compared with objects that are aloft but otherwise nearly static.
Those three remained a mystery in contrast to the Feb. 4 takedown of aircraft believed to belong to the People’s Republic of China, Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, said during Sunday’s briefing.
What’s going on?
Kirby tried to get the mostly loyal media to report how the Biden administration has managed to uncover and track what the previous administration allegedly couldn’t. How? By essentially blaming Trump:
KIRBY: "[Chinese balloon program] was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it, we detected it. We tracked it." pic.twitter.com/ynZGvGcTyr
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 13, 2023
Does anybody else smell manure?
How? Either you withheld info from the Commander in Chief, or you are now lying. Not good either way.
— GrandMomsterMel 💕 (@MomsterMel) February 13, 2023
Perhaps I’m missing something obvious, but: if no one “detected” it at the time, how can you now definitively say it happened? Is there something you can go back and look at, and say, “Oh look, there was a Chinese spy balloon over Jabip Iowa in April of 2018”?
— FunkyPox (@corrcomm) February 13, 2023
https://twitter.com/BreannaMorello/status/1625300823893762050
That wouldn’t be surprising.
I love it when they say this: After years of saying Trump and his policies were the absolute epitome of evil and failure, they then say they are just as bad. https://t.co/HZh9njZkdE
— Musashi (@MusashiBonMot) February 14, 2023
How do they it was operating if no one detected it?! https://t.co/5QjJxXWR4h
— Heather B (@BoulwareH2) February 14, 2023
Good question, but KJP or Kirby probably won’t answer it.
How sad it is for this former Navy admiral to debase himself like this. The only reason we know is because a news station in Montana covered it. https://t.co/QznsPlM1xE
— @based_seattle 🐍🇺🇸🏳️🌈 (@based_seattle) February 13, 2023
It was detected when some Montana people said, ‘hey, look up there. What the hell is that?’ https://t.co/0L3RiuoaRn
— Dave Lynn (@freddavelynn) February 13, 2023
And then they decided to try and blame the Trump administration. What a sad and desperate joke.
***
Related:
Having solved all other problems, Transportation Sec Pete Buttigieg jokes about Chinese spy balloons
AP notes that uptick in objects being shot down by US military is ‘unprecedented in peacetime’
FAA closes airspace in Montana and more questions and confusion follows
***
Join us in the fight. Become a Twitchy VIP member today and use promo code SAVEAMERICA to receive a 40% discount on your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member