Jill Biden on Saturday praised her husband Joe Biden’s decision to shoot down a Chinese balloon suspected of spying on America.
Speaking at a clinic that provides free mental health services to active-duty military and veterans, the first lady commended the military for its work, including its diligence to ensure civilians are not harmed.
“We are more aware of the military in wartime, but now we live in peacetime. And just like this morning when any of you watched the balloon from China in front of the TV and we saw the efforts of our military,” she said during her visit to the Steven A Cohen Military Family Clinic in San Diego’s Veteran’s Village.
“I was so proud of the effort and our military shooting down the balloon, how coordinated it was, how thoughtful it was, that the decision was made to wait until it was afloat for civilians to be.” I’m not affected,” she added.
She said she spoke to President Biden before coming to the event.
Jill Biden praised President Biden and the military for launching a Chinese balloon
The First Lady also spoke of her hope that incidents like this will help Americans stay on their minds.
And she noted that she and President Joe Biden pray for the armed forces every night at dinner.
“I hope that most Americans — I hope, as they watch, they really only think about our military. I mean, Joe and I think of her every day, we pray for her in our dinner prayers,” she said.
Jill Biden visited the clinic as part of her Joining Forces initiative, which focuses on all aspects of health and supports military members and their families.
She said the decision to add a mental health aspect dates back to the Obama administration when she and Michelle Obama first launched the initiative.
Her son Beau, a veteran who died of brain cancer in 2015, suggested adding psychiatric services.
“We must support our military even in peacetime. And when my son Beau was in Iraq, he saw soldiers who were there several times, several sorties, and he saw the effect that the war had on the soldiers, and when he came home I can remember that we were in in the kitchen and I said, Beau, I told you about the Joining Forces initiative that Michelle Obama and I started, and I said, what do you think we should work on? And he said mom, you know I’ve seen so many soldiers on so many deployments that he said I really think you need to work on your mental health. And that struck me, you know, I just didn’t expect him to say that,” she noted.
President Joe Biden also commended the military for launching the balloon.
An F-22 Raptor from Langley Air Force Base brought down the balloon at 2:38 p.m. with a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, separating its surveillance payload and sending it toward the sea off Myrtle Beach.
“I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down as quickly as possible on Wednesday without harming anyone on the ground. They decided the best time to do this was when it was afloat.’
“They successfully mined it, and I want to compliment our airmen who made it,” he said.
The balloon burst at 2.38pm and its payload – the metal structure containing the cameras – appeared to have been severed as it plummeted off Myrtle Beach towards the Atlantic
Biden (aboard Air Force One in Syracuse, NY this morning) told reporters, “I told them to shoot it down Wednesday. They said to me let’s wait for the safest place to do it.
Footage showed the jet screaming at the spy plane before firing the missile while stunned locals looked on from the shore.
Defense officials estimated that the balloon was about the size of three buses and that any debris field would be significant.