It should come as no surprise that MSNBC hosts repeatedly stated that President Donald Trump “allowed” Chinese spy balloons into U.S. airspace at least three times, despite the dubious nature of the original claim by the Biden administration.
“Donald Trump allowed a balloon to float over Florida in 2019 and didn’t shoot it down. How weak, how sad. How incredibly sad,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claimed.
Disinformation agent @JoeNBC spreads fake news that Trump allowed Chinese spy balloons over U.S. airspace during his presidency:
"Donald Trump allowed a balloon to float over Florida in 2019 and didn’t shoot it down. How weak, how sad. How incredibly sad." pic.twitter.com/CxiLEflMfW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 8, 2023
The problem with this claim is that it never happened. After the Chinese spy balloon was shot down on Saturday, the Pentagon announced, citing an anonymous official, that “Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.” But then various Trump officials disputed the story, prompting the Biden administration to backtrack. The new version of the story was that the balloon incidents during the Trump administration weren’t discovered until after the Biden administration took over.
It was another dubious claim, for sure, and it’s debatable that these incidents ever happened. So why is Scarborough pushing the story that Trump “didn’t shoot it down,” when not even the Biden administration, the source of the allegation, is claiming Trump knew about the incidents?
Related: Americans Believe Biden Botched Chinese Spy Balloon Crisis
Worse, this wasn’t just a one-off comment, either. MSNBC’s Mehdir Hasan spent an entire segment pushing this debunked story. And later, Scarborough not only repeated the claim, but Sen. Chuck Schumer, who most certainly knows the truth, did nothing to dispute the fake news.
Later in today's Morning Joe:
Scaborough: Trump "was too weak to shoot it down"@SenSchumer: "It happened three times. Florida, Texas, Hawaii.” pic.twitter.com/g42sZgCYv8
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 8, 2023
With polls showing Americans think that Joe Biden mishandled the spy balloon situation, MSNBC figures that peddling fake news is the best way to help him recover.
How incredibly sad.
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