Why Did It Take So Long for the President to Address This Situation?

There was some time where US officials were really trying to wrap their arms around what was happening. I'm sure a lot of people were relieved to hear the President one talk about this situation and to relay the information that the aside from the Chinese spy balloon that the other things shot out of the sky were, you know, something else. The White House finally felt compelled to address this and to make very clear what they did and did not know about this.