President-elect Donald Trump joined the refrain of individuals elevating considerations about mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey and different states on the East Coast, calling on authorities officers to shoot down the plane if they’re actually unidentifiable.
In a Friday put up on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump indicated that he believes authorities know extra concerning the drones than they’re letting on.
“Thriller Drone sightings all around the Nation. Can this actually be occurring with out our authorities’s data. I don’t assume so! Let the general public know, and now. In any other case, shoot them down!!! DJT,” the president-elect wrote.
Residents of Morris County, New Jersey, first began reporting nighttime sightings of the drones final month. Since then, the FBI and the Division of Homeland Safety have investigated the objects and are trying into whether or not individuals are seeing precise drones, manned plane or one thing else.
“Now we have no proof right now that the reported drone sightings pose a nationwide safety or public security menace or have a international nexus,” the FBI and DHS said in a joint assertion Thursday. “Upon overview of accessible imagery, it seems that lots of the reported sightings are literally manned plane, working lawfully. There are not any reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air house.”
However, studies of drone sightings continued to proliferate on Friday, with even former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan posting video of what he mentioned had been “dozens of enormous drones” flying over his dwelling on Thursday evening. People in New York and Connecticut have additionally reported seeing the plane.
Trump’s missive got here after White Home nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby appeared on Fox News’ “The Story” on Friday afternoon, the place host Martha MacCallum pressed him about whether or not officers actually wouldn’t have a proof for the drone sightings.
“I’m not going to misinform you or to the American folks, and I’m not going to say we all know one thing after we don’t,” Kirby mentioned. “And we might by no means, ever stoop to assume that an American citizen was loopy or nuts due to what they’re seeing and what they’re documenting. We’re taking that imagery significantly and we’re doing the very best we will to investigate it, and we encourage folks to return ahead if they’ve extra sightings.”
“Why not simply take one down and work out what’s happening?” MacCallum requested.
“We don’t have sufficient conclusions to take that form of a coverage motion,” Kirby replied. “However let’s simply assume for a minute, Martha, that we did. You’re not going to need to shoot one thing down the place it may hit any person’s home, or harm any person.”
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She additionally requested what President Joe Biden has to say on the difficulty, and whether or not Elon Musk or different “exterior specialists” had been known as in to provide their opinions.
Biden “has tasked the staff to look into this and to be energetic in doing it, to attempt to get solutions,” Kirby mentioned.
