President-elect Donald Trump joined the chorus of people raising concerns about mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey and other states on the East Coast, calling on government officials to shoot down the aircraft if they are truly unidentifiable.
In a Friday post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump indicated that he believes authorities know more about the drones than they are letting on.
“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!! DJT,” the president-elect wrote.
Residents of Morris County, New Jersey, first started reporting nighttime sightings of the drones last month. Since then, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have investigated the objects and are looking into whether people are seeing actual drones, manned aircraft or something else.
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,” the FBI and DHS said in a joint statement Thursday. “Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space.”
Nevertheless, reports of drone sightings continued to proliferate on Friday, with even former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan posting video of what he said were “dozens of large drones” flying over his home on Thursday night. Individuals in New York and Connecticut have also reported seeing the aircraft.
Trump’s missive came after White House national security spokesperson John Kirby appeared on Fox News’ “The Story” on Friday afternoon, where host Martha MacCallum pressed him about whether officials really do not have an explanation for the drone sightings.
“I’m not going to lie to you or to the American people, and I’m not going to say we know something when we don’t,” Kirby said. “And we would never, ever stoop to think that an American citizen was crazy or nuts because of what they’re seeing and what they’re documenting. We’re taking that imagery seriously and we’re doing the best we can to analyze it, and we encourage people to come forward if they have additional sightings.”
“Why not just take one down and figure out what’s going on?” MacCallum asked.
“We don’t have enough conclusions to take that kind of a policy action,” Kirby replied. “But let’s just assume for a minute, Martha, that we did. You’re not going to want to shoot something down where it could hit somebody’s house, or hurt somebody.”
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She also asked what President Joe Biden has to say on the issue, and whether Elon Musk or other “outside experts” had been called in to give their opinions.
Biden “has tasked the team to look into this and to be energetic in doing it, to try to get answers,” Kirby said.