Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who serves as Vice-Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday morning to discuss the implications of the Chinese spy balloon which traversed United States airspace before it was shot down Saturday off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Senator Rubio took particular note of the timing of this incident, asserting that it was no coincidence that it occurred just days prior to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s scheduled visit to China, which was then canceled.

“This was deliberate. They did this on purpose."

Sen. Marco Rubio tells @JonKarl that it is “not a coincidence” that the Chinese balloon crossed the U.S. days before Secretary of State Blinken’s scheduled visit to China. https://t.co/9clfdbRuEc pic.twitter.com/1RE91GvG9D

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 5, 2023

After Karl read the Chinese response to the downing of the balloon, noting that it sounded like a threat of retaliation, Rubio had this to say:

Well, I can assure you that if we fly a balloon over China, they’re going to shoot it down – and probably a lot sooner than we did. But I think there’s an important thing to understand, it’s that there’s intelligence value to what this balloon did — that’s why they have them, that’s why they’ve used them. And we’ll learn more about that here in the days to come, especially as we’re briefed on it.

But there’s a symbolic issue at play here – this is not a coincidence that this thing traversed the United States over sensitive military sites leading up to Blinken’s – what was scheduled to be his visit to China. This is deliberate, they did this on purpose. They understood that it was going to be spotted, they knew the US government would have to reveal it – that people were going to see it over the sky – and the message they were trying to send is what they believe internally, and that is that the United States is a once-great superpower that’s hollowed out, that’s in decline. And the message that they’re trying to send the world is, “Look, these guys can’t even do anything about a balloon flying over US airspace. How can you possibly count on them if something were to happen in the Indo-Pacific region? You’re going to count – how can you count – if they’re not going to do anything about a balloon over US airspace, how are they going to come to the aid of Taiwan or stand with the Philippines or Japan or India…when the Chinese move on their territory?” So, I think that that’s really the key part here, is that they knew exactly what they were doing and there was a message behind it.

Karl then pushed back a bit, pointing out that the balloon was ultimately shot down, to which Rubio responded:

Yeah, and I think they understood that ultimately that would probably be what could happen, and then they’d make this other statement, “Oh, the US is overreacting, it’s just a weather balloon, look how silly they got” – that’s part of it as well. But what they know the world is going to see is you have a balloon that entered through Alaska, traversed everywhere from Idaho, Montana, across the Midwest, over some of the most sensitive – I mean, look at the flight path that this thing took. It’s not coincidental. It went over ICBM fields, some of the most sensitive military sites we have, and then exited the southeast seaboard of the United States and then into the ocean.

So, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered: When was it spotted? Why was it not brought down sooner over other areas? I’m open-minded to listening to the arguments they make about why wasn’t it dealt with sooner. But my point about – you asked about China’s comments – this is…this is what they wanted the world to see – that they could send a balloon at 60,000 feet over US airspace, over military facilities, and that we would be unable to stop it. And then ultimately, when we shoot it down – if we did – they would argue, “Look how they overreact to a weather balloon,” which is obviously not what it is.

Later during their exchange, Rubio acknowledged it is possible there may not be much intelligence value from portions of the balloon recovered.

Asked if the U.S. will be able to access any intelligence from the Chinese balloon shot down by military, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio tells @JonKarl that "it’s quite possible that it was designed in such a way where there wouldn’t be much value to us.” https://t.co/9clfdbRuEc pic.twitter.com/lVASD7U5PX

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 5, 2023

Rubio also questioned why the administration waited so long to advise the American public regarding the issue.

“I don’t know what they waited so long to tell people about this.”

Sen. Marco Rubio tells @JonKarl that Pres. Biden should have gone on television to inform the American public about the Chinese balloon before it was shot down by the U.S. military. https://t.co/9clfdbRuEc pic.twitter.com/EQtprmr6St

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 5, 2023