President-elect Donald Trump pledged to release a report on the recent drone sightings that put many Americans on edge soon after he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Trump made his comments during a Thursday meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
"I'm going to give you a report on drones about one day into the administration because I think it's ridiculous that they're not telling you about what's going on with the drones," Trump said, adding that drones had been spotted over his Bedminster, New Jersey, property. "It's not only with me, [Gov. Glenn Youngkin] was telling me today that in Virginia they have drones all over the place, too, and nobody is reporting it."
The FBI, FAA, and Pentagon reportedly said last month that they received public tips on 500 drone sightings and their investigation determined there were no threats among them.
"They don't want to talk about it and nobody knows why," Trump said. "That could be us sending drones. I hope that's the case, us doing it and doing research and maybe they don't want to talk about it from that standpoint. I hope it's not an enemy, but we're going to find out on the 21st."
Youngkin, noting how many military and intelligence sites are located in Virginia, said drones have been flying in his state's skies for the past two years.
"For two years running we have had drone incursion over secure air space and we still don't know why," Youngkin said. "And I think that's absolutely unacceptable. I think President Trump and the new leadership coming in will work diligently to understand who's behind this and what we do in order to stop the digital surveillance of all our secure infrastructure."
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said drones recently flew over sensitive sites in his state "while we were dealing with a terrorist attack in New Orleans."
"We had drones being flown over our nuclear reactors in Louisiana and we brought that to the attention of the FAA and we've been asking the FAA to give … the ability to mitigate these drones and it's sitting on some bureaucrat's desk," Landry said.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said drones spotted over his state's critical infrastructure.
"We have drones in Wyoming flying over our infrastructure as well and it's incredibly frustrating that we not only have no way of knowing what it is, but nobody knows how to deal with them," he said.
Saying "you have to give me a little time for the inauguration," Trump promised as president he would quickly inform the public.
"They know and it's very strange that they aren't talking about it," he said, referring to the Biden administration.