President-elect Donald Trump claimed last week that he would soon share more information about the scores of reported drone sightings in the skies above New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast, vowing to release a report on the matter about a day after taking office on Jan. 20. (Canva/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will soon share more information about the scores of reported drone sightings in the skies above New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast.
Trump vowed last week to release a report on the drones shortly after taking office on Monday.
“I’m going to give you a report on drones about one day into the administration,” Trump told a gathering of Republican governors at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Thursday. “Because I think it’s ridiculous that they are not telling you about what’s going on with the drones.”
It is unclear if the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security has produced a report on the drone sightings. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security referred a request for comment to the FBI. An FBI spokesperson said the agency didn’t have “any information to provide regarding a future report.”
New Jersey residents began seeing unexplained drones in November, with some saying they often saw multiple drones in the same areas night after night. Eventually, the FBI began investigating the sightings.
As the reports grew, state and federal officials repeatedly said there was no immediate threat.
The FBI, Federal Aviation Administration, the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security said in December most of the reports turned out to be airplanes, helicopters, stars or drones being flown legally. Only about 100 of the drone reports were worthy of investigation, FBI officials said.
Trump weighed in on the mysterious sightings several times since reports began snowballing in mid-November.
“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!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social in Dec. 13.
Three days later, he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago he didn’t plan to visit his golf club in Bedminster in Somerset County following reported drone sightings near the property.
“They know where it came from and where it went and for some reason, they don’t want to comment,” Trump said at the press conference. “And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows.”
On Thursday, he reiterated his belief that the Biden administration knows more than has been released.
“They don’t want to talk about it, and nobody knows why,” he told the Republican governors. “I hope it’s not an enemy, but we’re going to find out on the 21st.”
Last month, the White House and the Pentagon denied the alleged drone sightings were tied to a “foreign nexus” as some public officials expressed frustration with the lack of an explanation.
“On the other hand, is it frustrating to not have more answers? Is it frustrating to not have a source for these things?” Gov. Phil Murphy saod last month. “Yes.”
In mid-December, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said federal authorities using “very sophisticated electronic detection technologies” had been unable to corroborate a single report of an unexplained drone.
“We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircrafts, helicopters, and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., previously floated a theory about the drones originating from an “Iranian mothership” anchored offshore. That was denied by federal officials.
Last week, Van Drew praised Trump’s promise to release a report on the drone sightings.
“I have no doubt he will deliver the transparency we have been waiting for,” Van Drew said.
A federal investigation into the matter is ongoing, led by the FBI, an agency spokesperson said this week.
In December, in response to the drone sightings, the FAA posted temporary flight restriction over parts of New York and New Jersey, including Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Those restrictions are set to end later this month.
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