--- title: "UFO Whistleblower Claims Trump Is Being Lied To About Those Drones in New Jersey" description: "Donald Trump's White House insists that the strange drones seen flying over New Jersey were approved by the government." date: "2025-01-30" modified: "2025-01-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/ufo-whistleblower-trump-drones" categories: - "Drones" - "Off-World" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Space" tags: - "donald trump" - "drones" - "intelligence" - "ufos" --- # UFO Whistleblower Claims Trump Is Being Lied To About Those Drones in New Jersey ![Donald Trump's White House insists that the strange drones seen flying over New Jersey were approved by the government.]() *\Image: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* Donald Trump's White House insists that the strange drones seen flying over New Jersey were approved by the government — but a UFO whistleblower is calling bull. Days before his inauguration, Trump vowed to [uncover the truth about the massive mystery drones]() that were allegedly seen [flying all over the Garden State](), including near the [golf course he owns]() in Bedminster, NJ. Just a week in, he seemingly kept good on that promise by having his [inept press secretary](), Karoline Leavitt, tell the public that there was nothing to see in the skies. "After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the \[Federal Aviation Administration\]," [Leavitt said during a briefing]() earlier in the week. "This information comes directly from the President of the United States." Beyond its dismal sentence structure, the statement left much to be desired, including who did the "research and study" and whether that included similar drones seen [flying in New York]() and [elsewhere](). Dissatisfied with the White House's non-explanation, a [user on X]() reached out to an Air Force veteran-turned-UFO-whistleblower [named Jake Barber]() to ask for his thoughts. "The activity there was not FAA approved. I know firsthand," [Barber wrote](). "I was assigned there specifically to look at the debacle from a FAA violation standpoint in order to give a basis to the FBI." "Someone is not presenting the whole story to our new president," the whistleblower continued. Considering that Trump is essentially trying to [gut the entire government](), it's certainly plausible that the FAA isn't telling him the whole truth. But Barber's comments, especially about having worked on the Jersey drone investigation, should nevertheless be taken with a grain of salt. Earlier in January, Barber [took to the right-leaning *NewsNation*]() with an incredible story: that during his time in Air Force special ops, he encountered bizarre debris from UFOs, or "unidentified aerial phenomena" per Pentagon parlance. "Just visually looking at the object on the ground, you could tell that it was extraordinary and anomalous," the former military official told the news station of the egg-shaped, SUV-sized objects he claims to have seen. "It was not human." Like [other ex-Pentagon]()-ers before him, Barber maintains that he worked for a secretive UFO retrieval office within the military. He said that after witnessing the massive and bizarre debris, it was confirmed to him that its origin was from "nonhuman intelligence." As with everything, there should be no mutual exclusivity between the fishiness of the White House's drone "explanation" and the weirdness of Barber's UFO claims. So who's telling the truth? Because this isn't "[The X-Files]()," we probably won't ever know. **More on Trump contradictions:** [*Trump Said We Should Kill Drug Dealers. Then He Appointed One as Health Secretary*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()