Trump and MAGA fans push drone conspiracy theories amid reported New Jersey sightings

Footage of ‘drones’ hovering over New Jersey has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists and politicians alike, as details of who or what is behind the technology remain unclear (although many believe they’re just planes).

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy wrote to US president Joe Biden on Thursday urging him to “continue to direct the federal agencies involved to work together until they recover answers” about what is behind the sightings.

He also penned a letter to senior figures in Congress – including Democrat majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, and speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson – calling on them to “empower state and local law enforcement entities” with the power to “use advanced detection and mitigation technology” to handle the issue of unmanned aircraft systems.

Meanwhile Dawn Fantasia, a Republican member of New Jersey’s general assembly, shared her notes from a briefing from state police to Twitter/X on Wednesday, in which she wrote that first sightings were reported on 18 November, with sightings flagged “every night since then” across a six to seven-hour period “over distances of 15 miles”.

She also noted that the drones are described as being “up to 6ft in diameter”, operating “in a coordinated manner”, “difficult to detect” due to their lights being turned off, and have not been identified as “hobbyist drones”.

And amid all the confusion, conspiracy theories have been circulating online - see some of them below.

An Iranian “mothership” hovering “off the East Coast” of America

Republican representative for New Jersey, Jeff Van Drew, appeared on Fox News on Wednesday morning and put forward his view that the drones come from an Iranian “mothership” off “the East Coast of the United States of America”.

The Pentagon later shut down Van Drew’s claims, with spokeswoman Sabrina Singh telling reporters that there is “not any truth” to the idea of an Iranian mothership.

“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” she said.

The official also said the Pentagon’s “initial assessment” is that the drones are not “coming from a foreign entity or adversary”.

A “fake alien invasion” designed to “steal Trump’s swagger”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

A day after Van Drew commented on the situation, right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson uploaded a video to YouTube in which he claimed the drones are a ‘false flag’ operation designed to distract the country from the incoming Trump administration.

Johnson said: “Now some people, [conservative author and YouTuber] Mark Dice and others, have said… what’s gonna happen is they’re gonna stage a fake alien invasion to try and – this is just one of their dirty tricks that they’re gonna use to try and punk Trump and to try and steal Trump’s swagger and create an emergency that’s gonna take away from Trump’s agenda.”

Yes, that was all one sentence.

Trump also floats the government cover-up conspiracy theory

Perhaps unsurprisingly, president-elect Donald Trump has suggested a government conspiracy is at the heart of the reported drone sightings in New Jersey, taking to his Truth Social platform on Friday to ask: “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge?

“I don’t think so,” he continued. “Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!”

A day later, he shared a meme of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie tucking into a Happy Meal with several drones hovering behind him.

What has the US government said about the drones?

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security said they had “no evidence at this time” to suggest the reported drone sightings “pose a national security or public safety threat or a foreign nexus”.

It continues: “Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities … Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully.

“There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space.”

So it seems things are still up in the air a little (sorry)…

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