Three airborne objects in North American airspace were shot from the sky by the US military In the span of three days this past weekend at the direction of President Joe Biden. But as Americans confronted an extraordinary series of headlines about those missions, the president offered no explanation – or reassurance – to the public over the weekend.
The Biden White House heads into the new week facing a slew of questions about the objects shot down by US fighter jets in as the last few days: on Sunday, over Lake Huron; on Saturday, over northern Canada, and on Friday, over Alaska. Those three incidents came just days after the US military shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
As of Sunday night, there was no indication from the White House that Biden planned to address the nation about the developments – silence that has begun to worry even allies of the president, according to multiple sources.
One person familiar with the administration’s deliberations said that as of the weekend, US officials were simply still trying to gain an understanding of what exactly those objects are, including their country or countries of origin, and whether they pose a serious concern. There would be considerable risk to Biden, this person noted, if he stepped in front of the cameras to deliver a speech before he and his top officials had a better grasp of what to make of the objects that were shot down.
Still, the pressure is mounting from some for the president to do just that.
One Democratic congressman, speaking on background to offer a frank assessment, told CNN Sunday night that the silence from Biden was “odd” – particularly given that “people are freaked out.” The lawmaker noted that the American public had notably heard more from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend than the president…
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