ABC anchor calls out Sen. Marco Rubio during tense exchange over Chinese spy balloon: 'This happened 3 times under the previous president'

• ABC's Jonathan Karl called out Sen. Marco Rubio during a tense exchange about the Chinese spy balloon.

• Rubio said Biden should not have "waited so long" to tell people about the balloon.

• But Karl said Trump did not disclose three balloon sightings that happened during his term.

ABC anchor Jonathan Karl called out Sen. Marco Rubio during a tense exchange on Sunday about the Chinese spy balloon.

During Rubio's appearance on ABC's "This Week," the Florida senator was asked if President Joe Biden should have acted against the military's advice and shot the suspected spy balloon down over the US mainland. The balloon was spotted floating over Montana, near a nuclear missile base.

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.

In response, Karl said former President Donald Trump did not disclose three different sightings of Chinese balloons during his term.

"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."