Are we ... sure about that? One would certainly hope that the current administration knows all about the source and purpose of the drones flooding the tri-state region in the northern Atlantic. Until now, however, the Biden administration has remained tight-lipped about the drones sweeping primarily through New Jersey.

That's a mistake, Donald Trump declared today at a press conference. Trump declined to discuss whether the presidential daily briefing included any information about the drones, but did say that he's sure that the administration knows all about them. They'd be better off with transparency, Trump asserted, rather than refusing to address the issue:

President Trump just said the U.S. government and military know precisely where the drones are coming from.

"Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don't want to tell the people, and they should." pic.twitter.com/3gDqR1eZxu

— George (@BehizyTweets) December 16, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. military should tell the American public about the nature of the drone sightings that have plagued the East Coast over the last several weeks.

"The government knows what is happening," Trump said. "For some reason, they don't want to comment. And I think they'd be better off saying what it is our military knows and our president knows."

Speaking at a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said, "I can't imagine it's the enemy" without going into specifics. He declined to answer whether he had received an intelligence briefing on the matter.

If so, local authorities are not informed of the information. Neither does Congress, or at least they're insisting that they haven't been informed, including Chuck Schumer and Kathy Hochul in New York. NBC affiliate WPTZ reported this morning on their frustration over the ongoing swarms of drones, or at least what people believe to be drones:

With that, one has to wonder -- does the Biden administration know what is going on with these drones? It certainly isn't in Democrats' interests to make Joe Biden and his outgoing nat-sec team look even more incompetent than they already look. In fact, Trump seems more interested in suggesting confidence in this team's ability to deal with the situation than either Hochul or Schumer, which is ... pretty strange.

Trump has access to more intel than Congress does, now that he's the president-elect. But that also raises questions about whether (a) he's seen intel explaining the issue, and (b) why Schumer wouldn't have seen it if Trump has. As Senate Majority Leader, Schumer is in the Gang of Eight for intel access on nat-sec issues: House Speaker and House Minority caucus leader, Senate Majority and Minority leaders, plus the chair and ranking member of both intel committees. This kind of situation is precisely why Congress has this Gang of Eight -- so that Congress can take quick action if needed to deal with an acute threat from a foreign adversary.

If they're not being briefed, it's because either the drones aren't a foreign intrusion or the Biden administration has no idea what's going on. Trump suggested the former, but I'm not convinced it's not the latter. 

Trump made other news in his presser today, which we may cover in other posts. The most significant is Trump's willingness to consider a pardon for Eric Adams:

When asked if he would consider pardoning Adams, Trump said he “would certainly look at it” and implied that the mayor’s indictment was a reaction to his stance on migrants in New York City.

“He essentially went against what was happening with the migrants coming in,” Trump said of Adams. “He made some pretty strong statements like, ‘This is not sustainable.’ I said you know what? He will be indicted soon. And I said it not as a prediction, a little bit light heartedly but I said it. I said he’s going to be indicted. And a few months later he got indicted.”

Adams has faced criticism for how he handled the city’s migrant crisis, sharing last week that he would use executive orders to loosen sanctuary laws that prohibit the release of migrants into federal custody.

Why bother with a pardon? Trump could instruct Pam Bondi to do a review of the investigation against Adams to see if it was politically motivated, or if Adams was running his own swamp in the Big Apple. There's nothing wrong with an outside review under the circumstances, especially given the weaponization of the DoJ in the Biden administration. Let those chips fall where they may under new management.