MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed that the US government is “in control of the drones” that have been spotted over New Jersey and New York in recent weeks, which officials have so far been unable or unwilling to account for.
Greene, who is well known for amplifying online conspiracy theories, wrote on X late on Saturday night: “The government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. It really is that bad.”
The congresswoman offered no evidence to support her claim but followed up with a second post, which went viral when it was shared by podcaster Joe Rogan, featuring a video from drone manufacturer John Ferguson.
In the footage, Ferguson, the CEO of Saxon Aerospace, baselessly speculates that the drones could be patrolling East Coast interstates in search of anything from missing Ukrainian nuclear warheads to radioactive waste.
Greene thanked Ferguson for his “courage” and “professional viewpoint” and commented: “It’s shameful our government doesn’t explain the truth as well. If Americans are in danger of a nuclear or dirty bomb, they deserve to know.”
Her Connecticut Democratic counterpart Jim Hines responded to her posts by saying: “This is absolutely not true. And really irresponsible to say.”
Also seeking to debunk the mounting hysteria over the sightings was former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who told CNN Sunday: “I’ve spent the last couple of days looking at every one of these videos, every video I have seen on Twitter, on the internet are all airplanes. They’re literally all airplanes!”
But Greene is far from the only right-wing figure to fan the flames of public concern and consternation, with other MAGA allies also pushing claims about the mystery sightings.
Speaking at a Young Republican Club gathering in New York on Sunday evening, Donald Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon also blamed Joe Biden for the unidentified flying objects, claiming they served as evidence of his administration “working against” the incoming Trump cabinet.
“Are they the guys who got the drones over New Jersey?” the podcaster asked of the 46th president’s outgoing “regime.”
A senior Biden official said over the weekend that the government “have not identified any basis” for believing that the drones are part of a criminal action, pose a national security or public safety threat or are being operated by “a malicious foreign actor.”
But federal officials’ refusal to say what the objects drifting unimpeded across American airspace actually are, coupled with some frank admissions that they “simply don’t know” the truth, have created a vacuum into which disinformation has been allowed to flow.
On Sunday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that her state will be “deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system” to get to the bottom of the matter.
She and her New Jersey counterpart Phil Murphy had already written to Biden calling for his administration to provide definite answers urgently.
Hines and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both appeared on the Sunday morning political shows to echo their calls for federal action.
Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has meanwhile said that, if need be, the government should be prepared to “take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases”, a step ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in turn warned members of the public could be moved to take themselves without clear messaging.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did attempt to clear the mystery up to some extent on Sunday when he told ABC’s This Week: “Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. But there’s no question that drones are being sighted.”
