Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., told Newsmax on Wednesday that when questioned by federal lawmakers on Tuesday, the FBI "didn't have any" answers about drones flying in New Jersey and New York skies.
Alarmed residents have reported seeing drones, some as large as cars, flying over infrastructure and sensitive sites in New Jersey and New York beginning last month.
When asked what is going on in New Jersey, D'Esposito told "Wake Up America" that "that's a great question, and it's one that was posed by lawmakers from really every corner of this country."
"The answer is, unfortunately, they didn't have any," he said of national security authorities. "I mean, when we asked the representative from the FBI what was happening in New York and New Jersey, you heard just before, the answer was, 'We're not really sure.' And when we kept probing and asking questions, 'Well, where do we think this is headed? Who do we think is responsible? Why do we think this is happening?' There was just a lot of shoulder shrugs."
What lawmakers did learn during Tuesday's hearing on Capitol Hill was that "there's only $500,000 appropriated to the FBI to mitigate drones in our airspace" — a fact D'Esposito called "absolutely insane."
"So that's something that, obviously, Congress and others are going to have to look into," he said. "But the sad part about this — and something that I talked about yesterday during the hearing — was that when we continue, and these agencies continue, to say that they don't know what's happening with these drones that are flying over infrastructure and critical areas, and we keep saying, 'Well, we don't know, we don't know,' the American people don't believe us. How does the United States of America not know what these drones are doing in our airspace?"
D'Esposito said he thinks that reassurances that there's no known threat to public safety from the drones is "more pandering" from the Biden administration and said lawmakers "heard this a year ago when the administration told us that we shouldn't be concerned of a spy balloon that was flying over the entire United States of America."
"So we've heard this before, and it's very, very hard for us to trust the administration and the answers that we're getting out of these agencies," he said. "I know today we're going to have another briefing on Homeland Security, and hopefully we'll be able to get some answers from there."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com