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By Aila Slisco
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President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that "mystery drones" recently spotted in New Jersey and other parts of the country should be shot down.
A large number of drones have been spotted in recent weeks across New Jersey and neighboring states, prompting concern among residents and lawmakers and launching investigations by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement on Thursday that there was "no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus."
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Regardless, the New Jersey drone sightings have continued and concerns have only grown, with additional sightings popping up in areas across the country.
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Trump spoke out in favor of shooting down the drones on Friday night, while suggesting that President Joe Biden's administration was withholding information about the sightings.
"Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country," he wrote in a post to Truth Social. "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."
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House via email on Friday night.
The FBI says that it has received over 3,000 tips related to the sightings, with most of the purported observations occurring at night. The phenomena has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue temporary flight restrictions for New Jersey's Picatinny Arsenal military base and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns and called for additional investigations. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, urged Biden to dedicate more resources to "fully understand what is behind this activity" in a letter addressed to the outgoing president on Thursday.
"The continued reporting of [drone] activity has raised more questions than answers and prompted an outcropping of conspiracy theories across social media and other platforms," Murphy wrote. "I respectfully urge you to continue to direct the federal agencies involved to work together until they uncover answers …"
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said during a press briefing on Thursday that federal and state authorities were "using numerous detection methods" to investigate the drones but had found "no known malicious activity."
"Using very sophisticated electronic detection technologies provided by federal authorities, we have not been able to—and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities—corroborate any of the reported visual sightings," Kirby said.
"To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully," he added.
Update 12/13/24, 11:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional information.
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