President-elect Donald Trump has finally broken his silence regarding the weeks-long sightings of ‘SUV-sized drones’ over much of New Jersey. Trump made his online statement after the Biden administration has repeatedly claimed to have no knowledge about where they came from or who put them in the air. “Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so!” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post on Friday evening. “Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!”
On Friday’s broadcast of The Faulkner Focus on Fox News Channel, Belleville, NJ, Mayor Michael Melham shared that the state of New Jersey provided guidance that day instructing them that if a drone is brought down, “we’re immediately to call the bomb squad of our county, and, secondly, our fire department has been told to ensure they wear HAZMAT suits,” as if it were an attack on the homeland.
Melham stated, “On the way here, I was on the phone with my OEM team and we now have guidance coming from the state. And that guidance does say two different things. First of all, if there is a downed drone in our vicinity, we’re immediately to call the bomb squad of our county, and, second, our fire department has been instructed to make sure they wear HAZMAT suits.” Host Harris Faulkner then asked, “So, if something falls out of the sky that people have seen…you’re to treat this [like] more than a plane crash, it’s treated like an attack on the homeland?”
Melham responded, “That is correct, because they’re not quite sure if there’s a payload or not, and that’s what we were told during our briefing on Wednesday.” Later, he said that “it sounds like it might very well be our highest-level government, it might be government assets that are being deployed as a countermeasure.”
WATCH:
? BREAKING: Reporter Goes to see Drones in New Jersey, “My Entire World View Has Changed”
“What I saw was more sophisticated than I ever imagined – We’ve been looking for the past hour, I think we’ve seen about 40 or 50 of these drones.” pic.twitter.com/xZOaIF8c8B
— Jay Anderson (@TheProjectUnity) December 14, 2024
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed on Tuesday that it has implemented two flight restrictions in response to reports of suspicious drone activity near Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. According to a report from Fox News, the FAA first received reports of drone sightings on November 18 within Morris County, located approximately two miles north of the golf club in Somerset County.
Following requests from “federal security partners,” the FAA issued two temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) for the state. Drone sightings in Central New Jersey have persisted into this week. One TFR restricts flights near Solberg-Hunterdon County Airport, encompassing airspace around Trump Bedminster. The second ban applies to the airspace above Picatinny Arsenal, a key U.S. Army facility in Dover, New Jersey, which specializes in research and development through its CCDCAC Armaments Center.
The ban remained in effect over Trump Bedminster for the remainder of that week and will remain in effect over Picatinny Arsenal until December 26, Fox reported. “Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a key priority for the FAA,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigate when appropriate,” the agency said, adding drone pilots who endanger aircraft or people can have their certification revoked and/or face $75,000 in fines.
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