Trump administration admits his own rants about New Jersey drones were nonsense: analysis

When a national panic spread at the end of last year over a barrage of unexplained drone sightings over New Jersey, Donald Trump was one of those fanning the flames. But now, his own administration has admitted he was working up the masses over nothing, wrote Steve Benen for MSNBC's MaddowBlog on Wednesday.

The drone sightings, which occurred in December and ultimately turned out to have mundane and uninteresting explanations, inspired a wave of conspiracy theories.

Trump, in the weeks prior to his inauguration, told reporters, “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.” Meanwhile, wrote Benen, the outgoing Biden administration "tried to explain to the public that there was no cause for concern, and the fears were unfounded, but Trump was apparently unconvinced."

Now that Trump has taken office, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at her first news conference that the administration has solved the mystery. "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 that enjoy flying drones," she said. "In time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy."

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The problem, wrote Benen, is that that's pretty much what the Biden administration already said, meaning Trump's administration is admitting he was spreading panic over nothing. "Or put another way, when Trump said that it was 'ridiculous' that 'they' were hiding the truth, his accusations were baseless."

To be fair, he concluded, plenty of other politicians and outlets pushed the panic as well — and Trump was far from the most hysterical reaction; for instance, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) asserted the Pentagon was covering up an attack by an "Iranian mothership." Nonetheless, "Now that the White House has acknowledged the truth, Trump’s comments look bad, but Van Drew’s comments look vastly worse."