Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused the government of withholding information about the mysterious drones that have been sighted over New Jersey and New York.
Despite the FBI receiving thousands of reports from the public since the sightings began in November, a spokesperson for the bureau, told Congress on Tuesday "we don't know" who is behind them, even though multiple drones have been sighted flying near sensitive military sites.
On Saturday, an airport in New York was shut down for an hour after drone activity blocked its airspace.
In a Saturday post on X, Greene said she did not believe the official communications from the government.
"The government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. It really is that bad," she wrote.
In a Friday interview with the Daily Mail, Greene said the government was withholding information about the drones.
"I'm gonna call it total bulls*** that no one knows what these are. And I think it's a slap in the face to the American people to say they don't know what this is." Greene said.
She continued, "They can track down a guy that just killed a CEO, but they can't identify what these drones are and where they're coming from?'
"I think that is absolutely disgusting to lie to the American people like this, and the truth needs to be told about it."
Newsweek has contacted the FBI via email and Greene's office by phone for comment.
While federal agencies, including the Pentagon, maintain they do not know the drones' origin, the FBI said many of the sightings are likely misidentified manned aircraft.
Around 5,000 reports have been received via a national tip line established due to widespread calls for answers from civilians and local authorities, an FBI official told reporters on the Saturday press call. Of these tips, however, the official said that "less than 100 leads have been generated and deemed worthy of further investigative activity."
Newsweek previously spoke to drone expert Vijay Kumar, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
He was skeptical of rumors that the drones were being sent by a foreign state actor, and suggested the evidence pointed toward it being a U.S. government operation.
Kumar said that even though the FBI said it does not know who is behind the drones, it does not mean the U.S. government as a whole is not involved, especially given that the drones have been sighted near airports and military bases, which are equipped with sophisticated radar.
"There's a lot of firewalling between agencies, so the fact that FBI says they don't know what's happening, that's very likely too, but I find it really hard to believe, as somebody who's lived in this country for 40 years, that the U.S. government doesn't know exactly what is going on."
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About the writer
Flynn Nicholls is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics and society. Originally ... Read more