White House rejects Republican fire over wait to down Chinese spy balloon

Pete Buttigieg says president ‘considered safety of American people’ after Marco Rubio criticizes eight-day wait

The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, on Sunday rejected Republican criticism of Joe Biden over an eight-day wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon which flew over US military sites.

“The president gave instructions to have it shot down in a way that was safe,” Buttigieg told CNN’s State of the Union, of the operation off the Carolina coast on Saturday.

Associated Press contributed to this report