CNN "The Situation Room" - TRANSCRIPT U.S. Military Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon; U.S. Official: Recovery Effort of Chinese Spy Balloon Underway; Biden Ordered Balloon Shot Down "As Soon as Possible" When Briefed Wednesday; Northeast Thawing Out After Life-Threatening Cold Spell. Aired 9-10p ET

Interview

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BLITZER: We shall find out. Marc Stewart, thank you very, very much. Let's get right to Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois right now. He's the Ranking Member on the New House Select Committee on China. Congressman, first of all, what's your reaction to the downing of this Chinese spy balloon?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I think President Biden did exactly what he needed to do, which was - once the risk of any property damage or damage to human lives was out of the way, he took it down over the ocean. And now we get to salvage it and determine exactly whether it was a weather balloon, or whether it was a surveillance balloon, which is what we all suspect and believe to be the case at this point.

BLITZER: You're the ranking Democratic member of this new China Select Committee in the House of Representatives. What will your Committee do about this flight over the United States by this huge Chinese balloon?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that it just reminds us of the of the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party, and that's the reason for the formation of the Committee. You know, basically, we know that they are military, technological, national security threats.

And of course, this particular balloon - the balloon reminded us that these threats exist, that the Chinese Communist Party is aggressive, and that they are, unfortunately, committing surveillance and violations of our own national sovereignty, not to mention, violations of the national sovereignty of so many of their neighbors, including Taiwan and others.

BLITZER: The White House is making the case, as you know, Congressman, that President Biden took what the White House Calls responsible action by waiting to shoot down this huge Chinese spy balloon. Do you agree with that assessment? Or should the U.S. have knocked this balloon out of the sky on day one as soon as it crossed into us airspace?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, I think he did exactly the right thing, which is, you know, first of all, the threat of its collection capabilities were severely mitigated, I think through countermeasures that we've taken to jam their electronics and so forth. But there was a threat of a large debrief field.

And also they wanted to probably collect on the balloon, as it was on his journey, to learn as much as possible about his capabilities. And then finally, when people and property were out of harm's way, to take it down. So I think it was it was exactly the right course.

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BLITZER: Your colleague, Congressman Mike Quigley told CNN earlier today that it just did not make sense for China to send a spy balloon over the United States, especially right now. What do you think?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, we're going to find out very soon, the nature of this spy balloon. We'll know the who, what, when, where and how, hopefully, related to that balloon once we salvage the technology. But at the end of the day, I think that probably there were actors within the Chinese Communist Party who continued with their aggressive surveillance. And it's not even clear whether the left and the right hands knew what they were doing in terms of the Chinese foreign ministry, and others knowing about this. Of course, if they did, it would really question the sincerity of their diplomatic overtures, Wolf. You know, I think that Chairman Xi, would - you know, we just have to really question, you know, how eager he is to solve our diplomatic issues, and to do so in a responsible way.

BLITZER: And the Chinese must have known that as soon as a huge balloon like this crosses into U.S. airspace, the United States would know that right away, it was not going to be any secret cross over of the United States.

The Pentagon, as you know, flatly denied the Chinese government's claim that the balloon was serving some sort of civilian research purpose, like weather, for example. How do you expect this situation to impact tensions with China? Right now, tensions are pretty high, because of Taiwan already.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I have to say to that particular claim that it's a weather balloon is a George Santos style Whopper, Wolf. I don't think anybody anyone believes that. And I think, you know, I think that we're going to find out very soon, exactly the truth behind this surveillance equipment once they salvage and examine it.

I particularly think that the Chinese are going to have some explaining to do, and they're going to have to own up to it. But regardless, it doesn't decrease tensions, Wolf, if anything, it just keeps them at the state they are at and maybe worsens them.

But for the sake of all of us, we're going to continue to uncover the facts behind the CCP's threats to us, on the Committee, counter them, and then hopefully, come back another day to diplomatically resolve our disputes with the CCP even as we work with our friends and allies and partners in the region, on our collective mutual defense.

BLITZER: You're also on the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman. How worried should we be about some sort of actual military confrontation emerging in the next months or years between the United States and China?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, as you know, CIA Director Burns said the other day, that Chairman Xi has instructed the People's Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, and so that is a very short timeline, that's just four years away. And I think that we have to realize that we cannot have in Taiwan, what has happened with Ukraine, that is a criminal invasion of Ukraine. We can't have that happening in East Asia with Taiwan.

And so that's why it's all the more reason to me, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, to work with our colleagues to make sure that the Ukrainians prevail, because I think that Chairman Xi is watching that conflict very carefully.

And then secondly, we have to work with our Taiwan partners and friends in the region to make sure that they are adequately supplied for their own self-defense. It's not only legally bound on us to do so under the Taiwan Relations Act, but it's the right thing to do and the smart thing to do as well.

BLITZER: Yes. And the other day, a top U.S. Air Force General publicly stated that he thought the U.S. and China would be in conflict by 2025. We hope that doesn't happen. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, as usual, thank you so much.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

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