A little more than five weeks before he begins his second term in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump joined calls for more answers regarding what are being described as “car-sized” drones that have put Americans on edge.
“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Friday. “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.”
Images of suspected drones have flooded social media over the past several days as sightings have been reported in the night skies over New Jersey and elsewhere, including near military sites and President-elect Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster.
Federal authorities insist they have no evidence of a threat to the public or national security. In fact, the FBI and Homeland Security Department said “electronic detection” have failed to corroborate any of the sightings.
“To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully,” the two U.S. agencies emphasized in a joint statement released on Thursday.
One U.S. congressman said “qualified sources” told him drones were coming from an Iranian “mothership” off the East Coast, but the Pentagon claimed to have no proof of a foreign link and denied the sightings were of U.S. military drones.
Still, lawmakers and others contended they do not believe the Department of Defense has been completely forthcoming. Yet more have flatly disagreed with assertions that the suspects drones do not pose a safety risk.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who has said the White House is urging Congress to “pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities,” appeared exasperated on Friday.
“We can’t corroborate every single sighting,” Kirby told Fox News. “Some of them we have. Not all of them. And we’re working hard to do that. We know people are afraid of it. We know people have concerns. We have those same concerns.”
Some have questioned why the United States has not shot down one of the suspected drones for study. Kirby dismissed the idea as being premature and dangerous when pressed by anchor Martha MacCallum.
“We don’t have enough conclusions to take that kind of a policy action,” Kirby said. “But let’s just assume for a minute that we did, you’re not going to want to shoot something down where it can hit somebody’s house or hurt somebody.”
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