President Joe Biden is "considering" delivering a speech on a series of flying objects shot down in recent weeks by the U.S. military, including the Chinese spy balloon that first entered the nation's airspace 19 days ago, ABC News reported.
White House officials are trying to squeeze in the speech before Biden's departure Monday for Poland. Biden, who has not given substantive remarks on any of the four incidents, has faced bipartisan criticism for his prolonged silence on the military operations.
Reports on Wednesday revealed that the administration monitored the spy balloon's launch from mainland China, raising more questions about the delayed response.
After the Chinese spy balloon was shot down on Feb. 4 over the Atlantic Ocean, three more unidentified objects were detected and shot down by the U.S. military: one over Alaska on Feb.10, over northern Canada on Feb. 11, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 12.
None of the latest objects have been recovered, but the Pentagon described the device shot down over Canada as a "small, metallic balloon."
Biden's remarks on the objects have been limited so far. He told reporters hours before the first balloon was shot down on Feb. 4 that "we're going to take care of it."
Several lawmakers have called out the lack of clarity from the White House.
"The American people need and deserve to know more," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Himes (D., Conn.), who is in the "Gang of Eight" lawmakers who get briefed on top national security issues, said Biden needs to share more information.
"I have real concerns about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows," Himes said.