The top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Intelligence said he has seen no evidence that the China spy balloon was used to spread the COVID pandemic.
Rep. Jim Himes said he has seen no evidence of any link between the balloons and the spread of COVID.
"I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that there’s absolutely no evidence that these balloons, as frightening as they may appear, are in any way, shape or form involved with the pandemic or frankly with any other sort of weapon," Himes said. President Biden was expected to make a passing reference to the spy balloon in his State of the Union remarks, but Republicans are furious about how the Biden administration handled the incident. Several GOP lawmakers say committees of jurisdiction had no warning about the aircraft and have been openly asking Biden why he didn’t give the order to shoot it down before it traversed across the entire continental United States at about 60,000 feet.
China's President Xi Jinping is under fire from both political parties in America over the use of surveillance aircraft. Intelligence experts say it’s very likely that the vessel managed to transmit its observations back to China before it was taken down, and many Republicans say the incident shows how reluctant Biden is to take tough action against China.In the meantime, China continues to insist that this balloon, and one that flew over the Caribbean and South America, were both blown off course by the weather. China has accused the U.S.
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