Former congressman and Air National Guard pilot Adam Kinzinger says there’s a reason so many photos of drones being reported along the East Coast are blurry.
“People with long telephoto lenses that are out there — trust me, they’re all out there right now — and they zoom on this thing they can see in their long telephoto lens that’s an airplane so they don’t take a picture, they don’t post it,” he said on video posted to social media Sunday evening. “Instead the person with their iPhone zooms in, that has no resolution, and is seeing this thing that looks like an orb because there’s no resolution on this phone. [They] post it on the Internet, and say look, this is a drone.”
A series of reported drone sightings over New Jersey last week prompted Garden State Rep. Jeff Van Drew to suggest an Iranian mothershop parked off the East Coast may be sending foreign aircraft over U.S. airspace. He later walked back that claim in a statement calling for an explanation from the federal government. Late last month drone activity prevented a medevac helicopter from picking up a crash victim in Somerset County, according to NJ.com.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in a press conference last week that “there is no evidence of any foreign-based involvement from coastal vessels” nor is there reason for concern.
“This is mass hysteria everybody,” Kinzinger said. “Are there some drones that are unidentified? I’m not saying there aren’t. There could be. Let’s see what happens.”
On X, Kinzinger addressed posted images of what some thought to be mystery aircraft by claiming what’s being seen in some cases are manned planes.
The Republican politician, who broke ranks with his party to join the bipartisan congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, mocked MAGA supporters for believing the flying objects being reported are from another country or planet.
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