rescue crews on both sides of the border continue the frantic search for survivors. also, tensions rising between the united states and china after the biden administration shot down that chinese spy balloon saturday afternoon and criticism from top republicans for the president s decision not to shoot it down sooner. all this as the president puts the final touches on his state of the union address when he s expected to tout his accomplishments including a better than predicted campaign and a preview of his election campaign. good day. as a tragedy of epic proportions is unfolding in turkey and syria, a massive 7.2 earthquake taking nearly 2,000 lives already and devastating commercial and residential areas of both countries. there are also nearly 10,000 people injured and possibly hundreds more still trapped under the rubble from decimated buildings as the aftershocks rip through the region and hinder rescue efforts. those are live pictures in southern turkey of a rescue
instead of facts. the president was given advice about not shooting it down over the continental united states. it has a safety factor and there s immense intelligence value in watching an asset like this behave. its maneuverability, collectiblety, emission characteristics. then we re covering it hopefully more or less in tact. so none of us really know what the decision making process was or what the decision making process may have been when apparently these balloons straight over the continental united states in the previous administration, but i expect we ll be briefed. what i ve been told by previous officials is that the previous administration was not aware of it. it was only after the fact that officials and intelligence went back, did the forensics and saw there would be incursions but they were brief. the kind of probes that russian fighter jets do on our west coast or around our borders.