Democrat Cory Booker: GOP deploying double standard over Chinese spy balloon

Sen. Cory Booker charged Republicans on Sunday with hypocrisy over the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the U.S. over several sensitive military sites before the Pentagon shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean.

The New Jersey Democrat argued that there was no outcry from Republicans when a similar Chinese surveillance device briefly entered U.S. airspace several times under the Trump administration, which the Department of Defense only has recently revealed.

“I think it’s problematic for a Democrat or Republican to have one standard for one president, another standard for another president. We should remember that this is now known to have happened under the Trump administration multiple times,” Mr. Booker said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “To create another standard for Biden when Trump, it seems, allowed this to go over the United States is just a bit hypocritical. We are in a position where we have a global contest going on.”

Republicans have accused President Biden of being too slow to act in waiting to down the spy balloon over concerns about damage to property and lives on the ground.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to China over the aggression from the foreign adversary.

“This is a time we need to unite on both sides of the aisle, not engage in partisanship,” Mr. Booker said. “This is a time for us to unite and find strategies to counter Chinese espionage and their other ill activities around the globe.”