Biden says he authorized Pentagon days ago to shoot down Chinese spy balloon
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President Joe Biden said shortly after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon that he gave the order to shoot it down on Wednesday but that military officials waited until Saturday to do so.
"I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible," Biden told reporters on Saturday. "They decided without doing any damage to people on the ground they decided that the best time to do that was when it got over water outside within a 12 mile limit."
"They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it and we'll have more to report on a little later."
Biden added, "I told them to shoot it down on Wednesday. They said to me let's wait for the safest place to do it."
