Sen. Tom Cotton: The American people deserve to hear from the president, not mouthpieces

Joining me now is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator, we learned more today about this object that was downed over Lake Huron that our first attempt at the balloon missed. And number two, that it had its payload underneath it and that it did indeed fly over sensitive sites. So where's the president of the United States addressing the nation about any of this? Laura, I think that's a great point. The American people deserve an explanation from the president about exactly what he thinks these objects were and why we shot them down just a week after letting a obvious Chinese spy balloon fly all across America. I mean, Justin Trudeau gave that to the people of Canada last week when an American aircraft downed one of these objects over Canada. But surely, Justin Trudeau is not a more decisive and stronger leader than American president.

I hope that's not the world in which we're living. The president needs to come forward on camera speaking directly to the American people, stop sending out mouthpieces and anonymous sources. You know, it reminds me of the time when Ronald Reagan spoke to the American people just days after Soviet Russia shot down a Korean Airlines flight. Or George H.W. Bush spoke to the American people a couple days after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. In these kind of moments, the American people deserve to hear from the president, not from mouthpieces and press secretaries.

Now, Senator, the administration is still trying to act like Biden's been super decisive and totally in control this whole time. Watch. When it comes to these higher altitudes, are America's borders secure? The president takes our national security extremely seriously. I don't think you need to look any further, quite frankly, than the decisions he's made in just the last week to 10 days to evidence that. Senator, do you see a consistent approach to these unidentified aerial phenomenon or objects that are flying in the sky? Is there consistency here? No, Laura, I will say this, though. Here's what we do know. We know these things about the first balloon.

There's nothing more than what meets the eye here. China sent a balloon to spy on America. The administration identified it before it entered the Alaskan airspace. President Biden had a chance to shoot it down. He chose not to. The balloon then flew all across America, spying on America. I think part of what we see now is the president and his political handlers worried about the criticism they received for that failure.

But really, that's just one in a string of failures going back to the beginning of this administration that has projected weakness and intimidation on the part of Joe Biden towards the Chinese communists. Remember, after the collapse of Afghanistan, Chinese propaganda outlets were talking about an Afghan effect. Unfortunately, I think we may see another echo in these objects of the so-called Afghan effect. Well, after all that's happened, senators, in the past 10 days, the administration, it seems still quite insistent upon meeting with China. Watch. Is there an act of intention to meet with Wang Yi in Munich later this week? We're always assessing options for diplomacy. I'll have to let the PRC speak to Wang Yi's potential travel.

If it has the opportunity to be constructive and useful, of course, that's something that we would take a look at. Now, Senator Cotton, should this meeting in any way, shape, or form go forward? I don't think it should, Laura. You know, if it were Ronald Reagan sending George Shultz or Cap Weinberger or George Bush sending Bob Gates to meet with their Russian counterparts, that'd be one thing. But color resceptical that Joe Biden sending Tony Blinken to meet with this Chinese counterpart under these circumstances is going to result in a safer, stronger America. What do you think these objects are, Senator? I mean, one's described as cylindrical. One's described as octagonal. One's described as like silver metallic, smaller balloon.

What are these? Well, I don't want to hazard a guess, Laura. We have a briefing tomorrow morning from the administration. I suspect as these briefings often are, we won't learn much more than what's already been leaked to the media. That's why it's so important that Joe Biden himself speak directly on camera to the American people. I do believe, though, under the circumstances, it's better to err on the side of caution and assume that these are adversaries, either China or Russia, and all likelihood, probing our air defenses, even if they're not trying to collect intelligence information on the United States, even if they don't represent a direct military threat, they can still probe our air defenses and see what kind of early warning systems we have in place. Now, maybe it'll turn out to be weather balloons or research balloons or a balloon that got away from a used car lot. But when you're dealing with life and death matters of national security, it's always safest to err on the side of caution and think that your enemies like China are up to no good.

Do you find it interesting that one of our shots missed the balloon? I've got to say that surprised me. Knowing how great these pilots are, and I had the chance to fly with one of them once up in an F-18, those guys don't miss, usually, especially on a balloon. That was a little surprising. No, they don't. And I do want to commend all the pilots, not just the fighter pilots, who have actually engaged these objects, but the surveillance pilots, the refueling tanker pilots. They've all done great work over these last two weeks. The commander in chief needs to come forward and do his role in explaining what exactly it is that they've been engaging, why it's a risk to our security, why this has been happening now, and what his plan is to protect America's airspace.

Yeah, he's in hiding. Senator, thank you so much.

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