Pressure mounts on Biden to address the nation after latest downing of aerial objects

“There was a lot of information presented to us this morning that could be told to the American people without any harm to sources or methods or our national security,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters in the Capitol.

“The American people need to know more,” he said.

In the meantime, the public should be reassured by the fact that these three objects were shot down, said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.

“The fact that these these objects were detected and were acted upon should give people confidence that we’re seeing them and taking what they believe is appropriate action,” he said.

“But we still need to find out exactly what they were.”

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, criticized what he said was a conflicting message coming out of the White House.

“On the one hand, the administration is saying, ‘we don’t yet know what these last three objects are, and we don’t want to characterize them until we recover them,'” said Cotton. “But on the other hand, ‘it wasn’t a threat.’ Both of those things can’t be true.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that as more information becomes available, more can be shared with the public.

“We know that our defense and intelligence departments are analyzing every piece of this, and they’re gaining more knowledge all the time,” the New York Democrat said following a caucus lunch in the Capitol.

“There’s quite a bit of information out there and there’ll be more to come,” he said.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/pressure-mounts-on-biden-to-publicly-address-aerial-object-shoot-downs.html