In the first White House press briefing of President Donald Trump’s second administration on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the mystery drone sightings over New Jersey and along the East Coast late last year were “authorized to be flown by the FAA. The drone activity was first reported on Nov. 19 by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, and caused temporary flight restrictions in New Jersey throughout November/December 2024.
Leavitt said: “I do have news directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office, from President Trump directly, an update on the New Jersey drones. After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons. Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.”
In December, mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and other states on the East Coast prompted a demand for officials to find the source of the flying objects, some of which were spotted near military installations. Trump suggested at the time that the Biden administration knew more than it was revealing to the public about the drones: “they know where it came from and where it went. “And for some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”
The Biden administration shared a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the FAA and the Department of Defense on Dec. 16 that said while there were indeed drones flying over New Jersey, they constituted a “combination” of lawful aerial activity. Their joint statement read: “having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, 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 aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”
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