President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman used her first briefing to end the mystery surrounding the drones seen over New Jersey in recent months.
New White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, took to the podium for the first time on Tuesday, boasting of Trump’s achievements from his first week back in office.
“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,” said Leavitt. “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 [who] enjoy flying drones ... it got worse due to curiosity; this was not the enemy.”
Last month, Trump claimed that the Biden administration knew more than what it was telling the public about the drones.
Speaking during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in December as president-elect, Trump questioned why the Biden administration was keeping the public “in suspense.”
“Look, our military knows where they took off from,” said Trump at the time, and he declined to give an answer when asked if he had received an intelligence briefing on the drones.
“Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” he said.
“Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people,” he added at the time.
Leavitt also spent her briefing hitting many other topics, including the loan freeze and immigration.
“Since taking the oath of office, President Trump has taken more than 300 executive actions, secured nearly $1 trillion in US investments, deported illegal alien rapists, gang members, and suspected terrorists from our homeland, and restored common sense to the federal government,” said Leavitt.
The youngest White House press secretary to date also claimed that the new Trump administration is the most transparent so far, calling it a “revolutionary media approach.”
Leavitt focused large parts of her opening statements on deportations, saying, “On day one, President Trump declared a national emergency at our southern border to end the four-year-long invasion of illegal aliens under the previous administration.”
She also addressed “foreign nationals who are thinking about trying to enter the United States illegally,” directly.
“Under this President, you will be detained, and you will be deported,” she said.
