Martha MacCallum Can’t Believe John Kirby’s Outrageous Response to Her Question: ‘Why Not Just Take One Down and Figure Out What’s Going On?’
In a jaw-dropping interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby struggled to provide clear answers about a bizarre and alarming series of drone sightings in New Jersey.
MacCallum, unimpressed by Kirby’s evasions, grilled him relentlessly on why the administration hasn’t even bothered to shoot down one of these drones to uncover their origins.
Instead of providing clarity, Kirby fumbled through talking points about “policy options” and “inter-agency conversations.” His repeated refrain of “we don’t know” underscored what critics have described as the Biden administration’s signature approach to crises—delay, deflect, and deny.
During the interview, MacCallum confronted Kirby over his outrageous claim during the White House press briefing, where he brushed off more than 3,000 reports of “car-sized drones” as mere misidentifications of helicopters or airplanes.
Martha MacCallum:
A lot of people were unhappy with that comment you made yesterday and felt like you were telling people they were nuts or that they didn’t know what they were seeing with their own eyes.John Kirby:
No, not at all, Martha. That’s the farthest thing that I would ever do. I was simply reiterating what the FBI and what the Department of Homeland Security have relayed to us about what they’ve been able to corroborate. We haven’t been able to corroborate everything. I said many of the corroborated sightings have turned out to be piloted aircraft. I didn’t say all of them.And what I said was those are the ones we were able to corroborate. There’s certainly ones that we have not been able to, and we don’t know the answer to it. And I strongly recommend that for folks that are seeing these things and documenting them to share that as they can with Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, the investigator.
Kirby couldn’t even look at the photographic evidence presented during the interview as he conveniently turned off his monitor to avoid distractions. MacCallum called out the absurdity of the situation, asking how a former admiral and current top White House official could dismiss clear visuals of the drones.
Martha MacCallum:
All right, well, let’s do that. Let’s share it with you right now. Let’s put up this photo. This is a close-up one. This is in Bernardsville, New Jersey. John, are you able to see this photo?John Kirby:
No, ma’am.Martha MacCallum:
You don’t have a monitor there?John Kirby:
No, actually, I turned the monitor off. It distracted me, so I didn’t see it.Martha MacCallum:
All right. Well, you’ll have to take a look at it after, but I can describe it to you. It is large. It has a white bar that goes through the middle. The right-hand side is half-lit up white on the top and red on the bottom. The other side is green. You’re a former military person yourself. You’re an admiral. You’re the White House National Security Communications Advisor. I’m sure you’ve seen some of these images. What is it that we’re looking at?John Kirby:
It’s difficult for me to tell you, Martha. We don’t really know. It’s possible that some of these things could be commercial drones developed for commercial purposes. It’s also possible that they could be owned by private citizens.
During the interview, MacCallum revisited the infamous Chinese spy balloon in 2023, which was allowed to drift across the entire U.S. before being shot down over the Atlantic.
The Biden regime was aware of the Chinese spy balloon in US airspace before reports of it hit the news.
The Biden administration initially ignored the threat, hoping the balloon would not be detected. But after amateur photographers captured the balloon flying over Montana, Biden White House had to admit they knew about the balloon.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the U.S. military had to shut down communications and movements last week as the China spy balloon flew over strategic military bases during its week-long flyover of the United States from Alaska to South Carolina. The balloon was only shot down after it went offshore. Joe Biden claimed the spy balloon gathering intel over US military bases was “not a major breach.”
Then, the National Security Council finally admitted that the Chinese spy balloon was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military bases.
Martha MacCallum:
Why don’t we know, John? That’s the point. Why doesn’t the United States government know? It seems silly. It feels a lot like the Chinese spy balloon. At first, it was like, “Oh, we don’t know, it’s not a problem.” Then we watched it go all the way across the country, and we kept hearing, “We’re not really sure where it came from,” until we saw it pop and float down over the ocean.John Kirby:
That’s not quite how it went. We were very honest with the American people that we knew it was Chinese, and we knew where it was going to go. We were pretty comfortable given the analysis that there wasn’t going to be an intelligence we were threatened by it. Again, we shot it down once it was over safe waters and it wasn’t going to hurt anybody.But back to this, why don’t we know? I wish I could tell you exactly why we don’t have an answer for you here in the afternoon on the 13th of December. But I can tell you that we are working on it very, very hard to know because we want to answer those questions the same as those folks in New Jersey want answers to them. We are working on this very, very hard. We are now applying.
There was an inter-agency conversation this morning about this topic where we have now to employ some additional technology to New Jersey and some additional personnel to try to get a better sense of what these things are. As I said yesterday, Martha, as soon as we know, we’re going to be transparent as we can.
MacCallum blasted Kirby on how an administration presiding over an $824 billion defense budget not have basic answers about objects invading American airspace.
MacCallum asked if the administration had considered shooting down one of the drones to finally get some answers. Kirby said they couldn’t do it because “it could hit somebody’s house or hurt somebody.”
Kirby’s reluctance to shoot down one of these drones, even over safe waters, citing policy and safety concerns, only adds to the frustration. With drones reportedly following a U.S. Coast Guard ship, the question of national security becomes even more pressing. What are we waiting for? Another potential espionage incident?
Martha MacCallum:
I got to tell you, this is shocking. I’m not the only person who feels this way. This was happening at Langley a month ago. These people are not crazy. They’re seeing these things with their own eyes. This is not normal behavior. They’re not planes that are coming in one direction, and they’re heading into Newark Airport, and then they’re landing. We spend $824 billion on defense. We have the greatest intelligent capability in the world. How can you stand there and say to the country right now, Gosh, darn, we just don’t know what these are.John Kirby:
Because I’m not going to lie to you or to the American people, and I’m not going to say we know something when we don’t. We would never, ever stoop to think that an American citizen was crazy or because of what they’re seeing and what they’re documenting. We’re taking that imagery seriously, and we’re doing the best we can to analyze it, and we encourage people to come forward if they have additional sightings and imagery. We want to do the best we can to triangulate it, but I’ll be, Gosh, darn. If I’m going to stand up here and make up stuff that I don’t know to be true.Martha MacCallum:
We don’t want you to make up anything. Do you know and you can’t say? Can you tell me that?John Kirby:
No, Martha, I’m telling you we don’t know. We can’t corroborate every single sighting. Some of them we have. Not all of them. We’re working hard to do that. We know people are afraid of it. We know people have concerns. We have those same concerns.Martha MacCallum:
Yeah, because they’re flying over your house, and it sounds like there are motor cycles landing on your roof. Let me ask you this. One person who watched this online said they think it’s a Taradynamics transwing drone XP-4, which is being developed by the US Navy as a recon and logistics drone, capable of picking up and dropping off packages between land and moving ships in high seas and winds.They’re suggesting it’s an American company. We asked the company. They said, We can’t speculate on the origin of the drones that are flying over New Jersey. Is that an avenue that has been inspected? Is this a private company that is practicing something? And wouldn’t they have to clear something with somebody to have this activity?
John Kirby:
It could very well be. As I said. These could be commercially developed drones of some kind.Martha MacCallum:
Why not just take one down and figure out what’s going on?John Kirby:
Well, okay, the idea of taking something down, again, you want to worry about public safety. First of all, we don’t have enough conclusions to take that a policy action. But let’s just assume for a minute, Martha, that we did. I mean, you’re not going to want to shoot something down where it could hit somebody’s house or hurt somebody.Martha MacCallum:
Well, the Coast Guard says that there are 30 of them following one of their ships in the ocean. So would that work?John Kirby:
I mean, again, we have to develop the policy options based on what we know we’re dealing with here, and we just don’t know enough to take those kinds of actions.Martha MacCallum:
WowJohn Kirby:
But my goodness, we’re going to do everything we can to find out, and we’re going to share as much as we can. I understand it’s frustrating for folks.Martha MacCallum::
YeahJohn Kirby:
It’s frustrating for us. We want to know as well.
Kirby assured MacCallum that the President has “tasked the team” to investigate the drones. But how can Americans trust this administration when transparency has been virtually nonexistent? From the chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan to now ignoring drones over U.S. soil, it’s clear this administration prioritizes spin over substance.
MacCallum’s final question drove the point home: “When are we going to have answers?” Kirby couldn’t even provide a timeline, instead doubling down on vague assurances of “working hard.” That’s not good enough for a nation that deserves leadership—not excuses.
Video via Fox News:
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