NEW: GOP Rep. Claims Government Is ‘Lying’ About Mystery Drones After Bombshell Revelation

One of the government’s fiercest critics in Congress accused military and intelligence officials of “lying” to the American people after federal officials provided a classified briefing to lawmakers regarding an untold number of mysterious drones circling over several eastern states stretching from New Jersey to Massachusetts.

Rep. Tim Burchett’s (R-TN) opinion contrasted with that of members of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, who sought to downplay the controversy after leaving a two-hour meeting with 28 members of the FBI, the Pentagon, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, Burchett, who has long advocated for greater government transparency regarding UFOs and UAPs, said he believes the intelligence community has “lost control” of the situation, The Hill reports.

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“You think the government is lying?” NewsNation’s Blake Burman asked Burchett on NewsNation. “I don’t wanna put words in your mouth, but you think they’re — they’re lying on this issue, Congressman?” Burchett responded, “Oh yeah, I mean, when — when have they ever told us the truth on anything … Come on, this thing has been going on, and … I don’t think they have control of it, and they don’t know what to do, so they’re just gonna lie.”

WATCH:

Hundreds of sightings have rattled big cities and smaller municipalities across several states, none more so than New Jersey, where the periphery of Newark International Airport has been the epicenter of unmanned aerial activity. Earlier this week, Michael Melham, the mayor of northern Belleville, said federal officials he’s spoken with have suggested that the drone activity is related to “missing radioactive material” that disappeared during delivery to an area port. “We’re aware of a threat that came in through Port Newark. Maybe that’s radioactive material. There was and there is an alert out right now that radioactive material in New Jersey has gone missing on December 2nd. It was a shipment. It arrived at its destination. The container was damaged and was empty,” he explained on “Good Day New York.” Asked where he got that information, Melham replied, “That came from the U.S. government.”

On Monday, a consortium of federal agencies released a joint letter chalking up the increase in drone sightings to “lawful” drone activity, stars, or misidentifications of commercial aircraft. “We recognize the concern among many communities,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) said in their joint statement. “We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement. We urge Congress to enact counter-[unmanned aircraft systems] legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge,” they added.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee told reporters following their briefing that they do not believe any “nefarious” activity is taking place in the skies. “No. 1, we spent a lot of time in this hearing asking the question in every way imaginable as to whether or not any of these sightings in New Jersey, Connecticut — anywhere they’re being sighted — are federal government operations, and they are not. We were assured, and we asked this question over and over and over again,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters. “No. 2, they remain committed to their message that there is zero evidence of laws being broken by any of these drones.”

“I think that the message for the American people is that a lot of people from a lot of different organizations at the federal level are taking this very, very seriously. To date, they haven’t found anything that would indicate that there’s foreign influence, foreign actors, or even little green men who are working on the American people,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) said. “It’s really important for the American people to know that as far as all of the organizations are concerned, there is no evident threat coming from any place.”

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