obviously that s great that there were no americans hurt by this, but is it acceptable that there were eight days that the spy balloon was over the united states, then canada, then again over the united states from idaho, montana, all the way through to the carolinas day after day? as the u.s. communicated, it s not acceptable at all that china sent this object into our airspace. in terms of how to handle it, that s something that was done based on assessment of the risks, making sure that there was no risk that outweighed the risks in terms of any damage that would come. it was handled appropriately. you say there was a seven-mile debris field over the atlantic ocean where it was shot down. can you tell us what, if anything, has been able to be recovered? obviously there s a lot of
hello. i m jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is deflated. the u.s. military is recovering the remnants of a 90-foot-long suspected chinese spy balloon shot down just off the south carolina coast on saturday after an f-22 raptors a9x missile popped the balloon, after a week long mission gathering intelligence. defense secretary austin said yesterday president biden on wednesday ordered the balloon be taken down as soon as safely possible and to avoid any risk to americans the pentagon waited until the balloon drifted just off u.s. soil to act, underlining the embarrassment of this all for president biden on the eve of the state of the union address. the u.s. believes the chinese government was able to maneuver the balloon and using it to try to monitor sensitive sites across the country. the chinese government is responding to the downing of
interest in getting the material, getting the debris and being able to conduct intelligence operations of our own, of the united states, against the chinese for this balloon? i really can t. anything on the tactics and timing and manner of it ultimately comes to the pentagon. i m just glad there was no damage or threat to u.s. aviation operations and that that operation took place, was done in a very effective, excellent way, as you would expect from the american military without any consequences for americans on the ground. a lot of concerns by senators and governors, the balloon may have flown and gathered intelligence over sensitive parts of the united states infrastructure. there s malmstrom air force base and nuclear ballistic fields in montana, scott air force base in illinois, ft. bragg and camp lejeune in north carolina. is the assumption that the balloon was able to gather
gaby gifford. that tragedy is being remembered in many different ways. giffords made her first appearance at her tucson office honoring her aide gabe zimmerman who was killed. and part of a hiking trail was renamed for him, as well. today in memory of the victims, trees will be planted for peace. tomorrow an interfaith church service. also a candle light vigil at the university of arizona which giffords is scheduled to attend. and a disturbing story out of connecticut. police there say a paramedic raped a woman as she lay on a stretcher in an ambulance. police say the unconscious victim was being taken to a hospital last month when she woke up to find she was strapped down to the stretcher and being raped. they say it was outrageous and horrifying conduct. paramedics and police officers, firefighters are in positions of tremendous public trust. these allegations represent a tremendous breach of that trust. the 49-year-old suspect was arrested and later released on a