Pequannock Township Mayor Ryan Herd told Newsmax on Tuesday that he and other New Jersey mayors "demand answers" from federal authorities about the origin and intentions of the drones that have been spotted flying in their communities for nearly a month.
"Yesterday, I was on a White House briefing around 3:30 in the afternoon and, I have to tell you, these people are masters at word manipulation," Herd said on "National Report." "Enough is enough. The American public is sick and tired of being gaslighted. The residents in my town have been seeing things for weeks. Morris County, the state of New Jersey, we know what we've seen and now you have the White House telling us, 'You really didn't see that.' Now, I will agree that, at this point, they're getting thousands of reports, and most of those reports have nothing to do with the original drones that have been seen, but you got to stop lying to the public.
"I do agree with President [-elect Donald] Trump: the government knows what's going on. We demand answers and we demand answers now, because you can't be flying these drones over critical infrastructure in our state, which also includes our homes and our families. This has got to stop."
The mysterious drone sightings first began in New Jersey on Nov. 18 and have since spread on the East Coast, with reports indicating they have now been spotted on the West Coast as well as internationally. Herd said that after concerned residents reached out to him with reports, he began seeing them, too.
"I saw 60 in one sitting overnight," Herd said. "It was ridiculous. Now, we know what a typical night over town looks like. This is not a typical night and it's been going on for weeks. These are low drones. They're about 200 feet off of the ground. They are going in a grid pattern and it's not normal.
"We're demanding answers and I have not been getting answers. That's why a couple Sundays ago, I penned a letter and we got 21 mayors on this letter demanding answers. Now it's exploded to hundreds. We want answers and we want answers now. Stop lying to the people in New Jersey."
Herd said "this is not a political issue," meaning that "it has nothing to do with Republican, Democrat, independents or anybody else."
"The reality is there are drones flying over our homes," he said. "These are our homes where our families are. They're your neighbors. They're your friends. They're everybody up and down the street. They're on the other side of town. We want to know what's going on."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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