Rubio conceded that falling debris from the balloon "could hurt, harm, or kill people." But the senator also hit out at Biden for what he said was weakness in the face of China's provocations.
"I don't know why they waited so long to tell people about this, and they knew the trajectory that it was on it seems from late last week, or early last week," said Rubio, the vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee.
"And we're also told, by the way, that this happened three times under the previous president," Karl said. "Obviously, there were no public notifications there."
Rubio did not respond to Karl's rebuttal on-air and thanked Karl before the segment ended.
"PRC government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time," a senior defense official said at the Pentagon's news conference.
Trump has denied that any balloons crossed into US airspace during his term.
Advertisement
"It never happened with us under the Trump administration and if it did, we would have shot it down immediately," Trump told Fox News Digital. "It's disinformation."
Trump has also been ranting about the Chinese balloon on his Truth Social page.
"The Chinese would never have floated the Blimp ("Balloon") over the United States if I were President!!!" Trump wrote on Sunday night.
Representatives for Rubio and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
{{}}
NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.
Andrew Tate says he's setting up a $100 million charity in his will for falsely accused men
Shocking video shows people running away as an apartment building collapses in Turkey in the aftermath of a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake
Donald Trump Jr. retweeted photos that show his dad as an angry, orange baby balloon and said it would be 'funny' if it was flown over Beijing in retaliation for the Chinese spy balloon