that will do it for me, thanks for watching. i will be back next saturday and sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern. follow us on x, tiktok, instagram, threads, and bluesky, whatever social media platform that there might be out there that i don't know about, using the handle at a weekend capehart. and catch clips of the show on youtube. you can also listen to every episode as a podcast for free, just scan the qr code on your screen to follow. don't go anywhere, ayman is next. good evening, everyone. tonight on ayman, trump keeps nominating mat that loyalists with controversial backgrounds and little expertise. and look up, i will speak to an faa drone pilot about the mysterious sightings in new jersey the only our own government cannot explain. plus syria may seem worlds away, but our government has a

long history of involvement there. we are going to break it down. all that and more, i am ayman mohyeldin, let's do it. donald trump continues to roll out his picks for top positions in his incoming administration. this weekend, even more mad that notables made the cut. devin nunes, the house intelligence committee chair at one time, who is now ceo of trump's knockoff twitter, truth social, he was named to lead the president's intelligence advisory board. try edgar, an ibm executive and former mayor in california who served in the first maga in ministration, and who trump lambs helped him lead a revolt against sanctuary cities back in 2018, he was picked to be deputy of homeland security. and this guy, richard, former acting director of national intelligence in trump's first term, he was just named presidential envoy for special

missions, whatever that actually means. now, the big question, of course, does the math add up in the senate for these folks, and if not, will republican senators bend the knee to get those necessary votes, no matter how controversial or how unqualified those nominees might be? welcome to the new maggot loyalty test. you can see it in the nomination of this guy, pete hegseth, the former fox host, who is facing reports of sexual misconduct, and reports of drunkenness. he is calling those accusations baseless and is refusing to withdraw from consideration for defense secretary. the blowback to hegseth is immense. senator lindsey graham, a republican himself, had this to say: >> i am in a good place with pete unless something i don't know about comes out. these allegations are disturbing, but they are anonymous. i asked him point blank, where you drunk at a bar and got up

and said let's kill all the muslims? he said no. he will have an allegation to make, come forward and make it like they did with brett kavanaugh, we will decide whether or not it is credible. right now, he is being tried by anonymous sources, that will not stand. >> that same level of confidence is coming from the parties conference chair, arkansas senator tom cotton, he took america to class on x, writing, "i expect our republican senate is going to come from all of trump's nominee is point of the 72 cabinet secretary nominees since the clinton transition, only two nominees i've ever received no votes from the president elects party. no one should be surprised that the republican senate will confirm president trump's nominees." what happens if they don't, senator? well, the new coleader of the oge has an answer. elon musk, trump's right-hand man, posted a response, claiming he was threatening to

challenge republicans who don't support trump's nominee is point he responded how else? there is no other way. thankfully, not all republicans are blindly following the leader. here's senator tom just today on fox. >> there is a lot of information that needs to be gathered, and these folks were making primary challenges, running ads, they seem more like political opportunists to meet the thoughtful members of the republican party. a lot of these are third parties that are making money from the fundraising campaigns to put some ads in their, but double digit percentages are going into their pockets. here is what i would tell them. if they really support president trump's nominee is, they should stand down and let the nominees win on their own merits, and i think most of them well. >> of course, his plea is ringing on hollow ears. matter republicans and hegseth himself are already going there, with pressure campaigns against any republican senator who seems on the fence against any of trump's nominees. take for example senator joni

ernst of iowa who initially expressed hesitation on pete hegseth, maga pounced on her. within days, she changed her tune, think she is open to his nomination and had conversations with him. according to nbc news, ernst is facing backlash not just on capitol hill, but also from gop activists in her state who want republicans to trump -- back trump's cabinet picks. she is up for re-election in 2026 and that makes her a little vulnerable. on sunday, lisa murkowski said the message from trump and his allies amounts to we have got you here and if you want to survive, you better be good. here is more on what she said about her colleague, senator ernst point >> my friend joni ernst, who is probably one of the more conservative principled republican leaders in the senate right now is being hung out to dry for not being good enough. and you are going to get primary.

>> and if all that pressure behind the scenes isn't enough, party leaders are making their once a very public, just like the mob, they may not say it, but they certainly know how to show it. just look at saturday's army- navy football game. the boss trump was there, along with jd vance, another divisive cabinet picks, tulsi gabbard. it's a visual that really puts a bow on top of what the bowl work so accurately described this week, "speak loudly and unleash the maga dogs." kicking off tonight, republican congressman david jolly of florida and ameshia cross, democratic strategist, former obama campaign adviser, and sirius xm post. it is great to have both of you with us. david, the approach of unleashing the wrath of maga on lawmakers who dare object to trump's nominees seems to be very clear in recent weeks, and

it seems to be working on people like senator joni ernst, what you make of the pressure campaign against her, coming from all directions, from elon musk all the way down to grassroots activists in her state? >> yeah, i suppose in some ways, it is nothing new, right? the tactics in trump world are different than 20 or 30 years ago, and i think something that is overlooked is actually that the nominees are bending as much as the republican senators are bending. you're seeing pete hegseth to backtrack on lgbtq the members of the military or as a harsh critic of women in the military or women in combat, he is now saying he doesn't have a problem with that. so, i think a generous interpretation would be that the process is moving everybody towards each other, but i think what gets lost in all of this, and i think you see this and some of the remarks you played there, is we are not even talking about their lack of qualifications. i mean, that photo from army- navy game, starting with the vice president himself, is a bunch of unqualified people being asked to lead the nation at a critical time.

we are not talking about the fact that hegseth has zero capabilities or expands and him running a department responsible for our nation's national security, you can go to tulsi gabbard, rfk jr., you can go to all these folks, they're just historically unqualified. we are moving from an era at least of competence to an era of incompetence under donald trump, and i think the real injury to the public would be to see joni ernst to move on some of these more newsworthy issues right now, allegations of serious sexual misconduct, allegations of drinking, but then moved to a yes without actually leaving the nation through a conversation about hegseth's publications and other nominees as well. >> as we mentioned in our clip earlier, acknowledged the pressure on gop lawmakers to back all of trump's nominees is not just coming from fellow congress members, it is coming from third-party groups who are political opportunists.

he says they need to let these nominees win on their own. that is not likely going to happen when you have people like elon musk vowing to back them. >> oh, absolutely not. in this conversation, we have to remember that elon musk is the richest man in the world. when he is saying that he is going to fund opposition candidates against sitting elected officials who may want to stand by the principles that we just heard spoken of by david jolly when it comes to ensuring that our nation is protected, when it comes to ensuring that the people nominated actually have and maintain the responsibility for the job they have been nominated for, but also have experience to make that happen. pete hegseth for instance, this is a guy who served in the military, he also ran two veterans organizations into the ground. this is a guy who has never managed a budget anywhere near that of our military services. this is a guy who literally was just chosen because he chose the weekends on fox news to shut down d.e.i., to carry on the culture wars, and he became a fan favorite of donald trump,

who is utilizing this likely apprentice. it is really frustrating when you think of the fact that there are so many foreign entities that we are responsible for in terms of watching international words take place, in terms of our leadership in those words. in addition to the protection of a lot of our treaties and a lot of our partners across the globe, this is a guy who does not care. this is a guy was only being there because he has sworn an oath to president trump, not an oath to protection of our nation, and he doesn't understand the main goals of the job. i don't care how many women he slept with outside of his wife or any of the other things about him in his personal life as much as i do the fact that this man is not qualified for the job that he would be upholding, and i think that is something americans should worry about, because of national security is an issue, if we care about that, if we care about the protection of our democracy, you should not be on the list. >> the david, what kind of damage does pete hegseth do to

the largest, most important bureaucracy and agency in our country? i mean, we noticed the largest budget, largest bureaucracy, most important for our national security, but having somebody like him, if he were to be confirmed, given allegations against him, the sexual conduct allegations, the general misconduct allegations, what kind of damage could potentially do to the department of defense? >> yeah, significant damage. look, we will never know the truth behind the sexual misconduct allegations, nor will we know exactly about pete hegseth's drinking, that we know those are two incredible issues within the department of defense itself, within active duty military, those are two issues that the top leadership of the department has to continually address as problems. i think the bigger problem, though, around culture, is this. the department of defense is architected as such that it has civilian leadership. the constitution, the founders wanted in civilian leadership, they did not want us to be a

nation led by the military, and then have the joint chiefs and the top officers of each of the branches and you have the officers enlisted down from there. in this case, to have the four stars on the joint chiefs having to recognize civilian leadership that is unqualified and arguably incompetent, someone that was a fox news host, that now they have to make their recommendations to and ultimately send pete hegseth if he is confirmed to the president, that is where this really becomes a problem. but i think we are seeing, ayman, is this. in 2016, the story on donald trump was he is unqualified, so he had to surround himself with tillerson and mattis and kelly and even jeff sessions and the department of justice. sure, people that would do his work, but reassuring the nation that they were qualified people around donald trump. 2024 is the opposite. donald trump once unqualified people around him. he doesn't want people out in front of him. donald trump wants to make foreign policy and domestic policy and tax policy by tweet or truth social and ignored his cabinet secretary, so you

setting up a second term that allows his cabinet secretaries to be unqualified because donald trump wants to consolidate all of that power within the executive office of the presidency. >> please stick around, i got a lot more to discuss. next up, what the january 6th writers would essentially be admitting to if they accepted a pardon from trump. >> [ music ] >> [ music ] an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems. serious allergic reactions may occur. get help for swelling of your face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or you have a parasitic infection. headache and sore throat may occur. ask your doctor if fasenra is right for you. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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next month marks four years since the january 6th attack on the capitol and the people who defiled it until -- in hopes of overturning president biden's election. in his interview with time magazine, trump reiterated his promise to pardon the january 6th rioters. as a justice department said wednesday, accepting a pardon

from donald trump is a confession of guilt for your crimes. and then there is some concern among allies about trump's blind spots on this sprawling probe. one of them who is familiar with discussions happening inside trump's team says his meet the press interview. he needs a refresher on the case, because he appeared to mistakenly believe that most, if not all of the january 6th defendants were being held in a d.c. jail. our sources say there needs to be a more specific, updated argument made to the public. ameshia, i will start with you, those comments that trump made to time magazine, he is saying this would be a priority for him within the first nine minutes of his administration, what does that tell you? >> that he still considers them as patriots. it is telling me that what you said on the campaign trail, what you said since the first few months of january 6th that this was a peaceful day, has been that these were people who were standing by maga. has been that this whole january 6th insurrection was a

made up thing by the democrats, by whomever, up to and including the being orchestrated by the government. i think that it tells us that donald trump sees those individuals as everyday americans who were trying to avenge his name. he doesn't see them as doing anything inherently wrong, and quite frankly, he doesn't believe that that was a detrimental day, and he has repeated that over and over again, you still will not come forth about losing the 2020 election, he does not care. and you never will. i don't think that he will ever admit to the atrocities of january 6th either. the spartans, tenant, are allowing for there to be an erasure of january 6th and the conversation as well. >> david, how does it feel to see the gop that once claimed to be a party of law and order celebrate the idea of pardoning people who tried overturning a free and fair election? >> the republican party resigned over the courage and moral compass at least eight years ago if not before then. it is why donald trump did not

hijack the republican party, he walked through the front doors. and we will never quite understand, except for an exercise of raw power why even those who resisted him in that moment, kevin mccarty and mitch mcconnell, turned around and just decided to fall in line with donald trump. donald trump wouldn't be president today is mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarty had stood by the convictions they had the afternoon of january 6, and i think what we are seeing unfortunately with republican enabling is the old axiom that the winners get to write history. but the winners only write history if the real truth tellers fall silent, and i think that is where those who know the truth of january 6th, those who understand the real threat of donald trump to democracy, someone who instigated violence to try to overthrew a free and fair election, if the truth tellers just feel fatigued during the second administration and just say i give up, the last election took too much out of me, i can't keep going, then yeah, donald trump does get to rewrite history, and as ameshia

said, the january 6th narrative just kind of fades away. and on this issue and so many others of the second term, it is the moment for those who know the truth to speak out regardless of how donald trump exercises his presidential powers. >> do you think, ameshia, these people even care that if they accept the pardon, they would be admitting a confession of guilt, as the doj has advised them? >> absolutely not. i think that these people will see this as they were not -- no matter how many videos we saw, no matter how many people we saw give testimony, they will see this as vindication for them. and that donald trump came through on a promise that he had been making for months, and said multiple times on the campaign trail. those people could care less whether it means an admission of guilt. they are not here as legal scholars, they are here as individuals who were willing to take up arms and use the confederate flag, the maga

flag, whatever flag they felt like carrying and waving, me my attacking people at the capitol. they don't care. i think this will solidify them and their history as patriots with a sitting united states president pardoning them for things they believe they should have never been charged or found guilty of to begin with. >> and it seems pretty telling that even trump's allies, david, like this anonymous woman who spoke to nbc news, as to say he needs a refresher on this case and a more specific argument to be made to the public to defend the spartans. to be an ally of trump's, they sure don't appear to know the man, it seems. >> no, that's right, and the person who knows the man is mike pence and he refuses to support donald trump's return to the white house for exactly this reason, but the republican party doesn't want to listen to him, either. i think where you might see some year among leading republicans is when the world is reminded that some of these people are really bad guys. be it because of their affiliation with the or the

proud voice, or just this week, someone who participated in january 6th and was on probation and tried to sign up and enlist with the russian army, that was one of the january 6th guys that perhaps donald trump wants to pardon. so stand in line if you are a member of the public's or the kkk or you want to go enlist with vladimir putin, donald trump is ready to give you a pardon, is that really what mitch mcconnell and mike johnson and all these others think they're going to defend when you trust issue these blanket pardons? we can't expect anything more from donald trump. we should be able to expect more from an incoming pam bondi or congressional leadership, but to this point, we haven't seen that bridge from republicans. >> a recent monmouth university poll shows only 34% of u.s. adults approve of trump pardoning the january 6th rioters , as opposed to 61%

disapprove. that is not going to matter to donald trump. >> so, the public is not on board with it and i have seen a few poles that are similar to the one that was just shown, but at the end of the day, a large portion of the public voted for donald trump, who said time and time again on the campaign trail that he would forgive the january 6th insurrectionists. so, i'm very confused there, because there was nothing in his very focal forgiveness of these individuals were he didn't think they should be charged anyway, calling them patriots, this guy was always planning on pardoning them if he was elected, now he is. so, i don't think you are going to see people protesting in the streets when those pardons happen. i think there are people who are ultra stick, hoping for justice to play out the way that it should, but there are also people who have a vested interest in donald trump doing exactly what you said on the campaign trail and that is exactly why they voted for him. >> really appreciate your insights as always it coming up, what you need to know about america's decades long involvement in syria, and next hour, i will speak with signals former vice president, wendell

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learn more at dexcom.com over a week after syrian rebels toppled dictator bashar al-assad, u.s. politicians are praising the syrian people and talking about what the new regime could look like, but see if you can catch another layer to how they reacted to the news. watch. >> the upshot for all of this is for the first time ever, neither russia nor iran nor hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in syria. this is the direct result of the blows that ukraine, israel, have delivered upon their own self-defense with support of the united states. and over the past four years, my administration had a clear, principled policy toward syria. >> but the syria policy that was developed during the latter

stages of the obama administration, to go back to the point that matt started this briefing with, that has largely carried through to this day. ultimately, i would say has led to the situation we are in today. >> of the biden administration is trying to take some credit here, and they praise the actions of the obama administration as well. u.s. politicians should think twice, though, before celebrating their own policies, especially when you look at the u.s.'s role in syria, not only over the last few years, but the last few decades. we will start with 1949 when the u.s. backed a coup in syria. that move eventually paved the way for bashar al-assad's father to take power in 1971. fast-forward to george w. bush's presidency, the u.s. imposed sanctions on assad and kept relations tense, but also worked with him after 9/11. don't forget, the bush administration sent terrorism

suspects to assad's prisons, like the very same prison, the same very brutal facility we have been seeing all over the news this week, and then came obama. along with his administration, to talk tough on assad and imposed sanctions, it often stopped short of actual action. obama famously set a redline, promising to intervene if assad used chemical weapons on his own people. assad crossed it, and due to the u.s. congress, obama did nothing. the u.s. did find some rebel groups, but the effort barely made a dent. obama did eventually intervene in syria, but not because of assad's chemical weapons, instead strikes against i.s.i.s., which killed many civilians in the process. towards the end of trump's presidency, he made a move that affects syria at this very moment, he recognized israel's control of the golan heights, a syrian territory that israel has illegally occupied and has annexed for decades. the u.s. is the only country that recognizes the golan heights as part of israel.

thousands of people live there, most of them are syrians. the international community widely slammed this policy change, but democrats did not push back on this when they took office with president biden. when he took office, when biden took office, his administration mostly ignored syria. they were reportedly thinking of easing sanctions on assad up until a few weeks ago. and something else this administration ever reversed or even pushed back on, trump's policy on the golan heights. this is what secretary of state antony blinken had to say about israel's annexation of that territory back in 2021. >> look, leaving aside the legalities of that question, as a practical matter, the goal on is very important to israel's security, as long as assad is in power in syria, as long as iran is present in syria, militia groups backed by iran, the assad regime itself, all of

these pose a significant security threat to israel , and as a practical matter, control of the golan heights and that situation, i think remains really important to israel's security. legal questions are something else, and over time, if the situation were to change in syria, that is something we would look at, but we are nowhere near that. exit well, the assad regime is gone, iran and hezbollah's presence in that country has been weakened, so what has israel exactly been doing? pushing deeper into syria, beyond the golan heights, forcing syrians in the golan heights from their homes, picking up air strikes, ignoring serious a de facto leader's recent peace pledge. all week, the israeli government has been scrambling to try to justify their actions. this is what prime minister benjamin netanyahu said last week: that's the syrian army abandoned its positions, we gave the israeli army the order to take over these positions, to ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the

border of israel. this is a temporary defensive position. that's one key phrase sticks out there, temporary defensive position. israel also wrote a letter to the u.n. this week, again defending their actions, calling them limited and temporary. while today, netanyahu issued another statement, he said, " strengthening the golan heights in strengthening the state of israel and it is especially important at this time. we will continue to hold onto it and cause it to blossom and to settle in it. the israeli government has approved $11 million of a plan to encourage more illegal settlements in the occupied golan heights. all of that is very very far from limited and temporary measures. but this isn't even surprising, we have seen netanyahu do the exact opposite of what you told international community so many times this year. earlier this week, the you and even condemned israel's bombing of syria and urged the world to hold israel accountable for war

crimes it has committed in gaza. as blinken meets with leaders in the middle east, building ties with leaders, the biden administration sits by again. biden claims his support of israel helped bring down assad, but the billions in weapons he gave netanyahu just feel more international lawbreaking. the u.s. is now complicit in israel taking more land in syria, bombing towns, expanding settlements, and potentially displacing thousands of syrians from their homes. u.s. politicians are claiming to want peace for syrians, but in reality, they are only making things worse, by letting netanyahu act with impunity yet again. th impunity yet again. —here i'll take that. [cheering] ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar and a protein blend to feed muscles up to 7 hours. ♪♪ ♪ i have type 2 diabetes, but i manage it well. ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance... ♪ ♪ ...at each day's start. ♪

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before the break, i was talking about the u.s.'s role in syria over the last few decades and netanyahu are missing to expand and settle into the golan heights which is syrian territory. here is a syrian american community organizer and advocate who has participated in many solidarity initiatives and worked with refugees over the years. thank you very much for being with us. earlier, i was talking about how the biden administration had been bragging about certain policies they believed helped in assad's regime. give us your sense of it, as somebody who has been working on this, what is your reaction to those kinds of comments, especially since the u.s. reluctantly took in very few syrian refugees over the last 14 years when the peak of the

crisis of the refugee situation was playing out? >> first, thank you for having me, ayman, it's a tremendous time to talk about syria and we are all thrilled and joyful as to what has happened the past week. her biden to say what you said, of course everyone is coming out of the woodwork to claim credit for the suffering and struggling of the syrian people. one must never forget, however, that the u.s. has played a role in syria, on one side speaking about the language of freedom, against tyranny, and against this brutal dictatorship, but on the other side managing outcomes, long-term interests, regime preservation, if you will, in many different ways, and their actions over the past 14, 15 years, has reflected that. as you said in your opening, the only really went into syria to confront i.s.i.s. in 2014, and they never once to that point really put a push to change the regime, so really, what we have learned over the past 14 years as syrians is

syria was won back from this brutal dictator based on the struggles and efforts of children of our camps, the displaced, the people that struggled for so long to create a free syria, and that is what we have been witnessing this past week, and that's why you see massive celebrations from every corner of syria. >> so, let's talk about this past week, it has been a week since assad was ousted from power. obviously, we have seen the celebrations , we have also seen the scenes of heartbreak as people search for loved ones and the horrors of what was happening in these prisons becomes more and more apparent, but tell me what this week has met for people in the diaspora, who are watching this play out, and are hopeful or concerned about the next steps syria takes. >> so, there is a pendulum swinging between extreme euphoria where the communities all around the world, because there are 10 millions syrians outside of syria at this point, are celebrating.

we have to remember that the past five to seven years or so, syria has been a static conflict of sorts and people have been losing hope that they would ever have a chance to return, and so, when things happened over these past two weeks, it opened this fire across millions outside of syria, as we have been on our streams 24/7, barely sleeping, talking to loved ones, getting reports by the minute from loved ones, and following the news tremendously. and so, he has been joyful, exhilarating. obviously, there is some concern about how things will unfold, but for the most part, images that you are sharing inside the country are what we are feeling outside of the country, and millions of syrians now have the opportunity to go home. some have been exiled for 40, 50 years. >> let me ask you about what is happening with israel, netanyahu announced today that israel will continue to expand illegal settlements in the syrian occupied golan heights, we have seen the israeli military continued to bomb across syria. how do you think both

discontinued territorial expansion by israel, the continued bombing of the state of syria, impacts what happens on the ground with the rebels? i mean, how might this derail, whatever progress syrians want within the next few months? >> it is creating chaos with this transitional government, the transitional forces. it is not helpful in solidifying the new syria that we all want to see. it is not lost on syrians that the day after assad fell, israel created this sort of advance, took over parts of the golan heights and the province, and also other provinces, they bumped hundreds, hundreds of locations. not just military targets or institutions, places that new syria needs in order to advantage ourselves to the storm. so right now, people are on the

one side you fork about freedom, but also at the same time, sending out clear signals that this is a disgusting, aggressive action on the part of israel, >> you have worked with refugees here and in syria, we have seen many returning home from nearby countries. what are the challenges for these refugees that are going back right now, that don't necessarily in some areas -- they may not have homes or even towns or villages or cities that they came from. you know, explain that to us a little bit. i understand the desire to go back, but is it premature to go back when you don't know if the situation is going to stabilize from a security perspective, and their reconstruction efforts are not yet committed from countries with the resources to help with that process. >> so, many millions want to come back right away. people have been living in squalor and want to go back to their homes and start rebuilding. this is the overarching sense. now, many of these locations have been utterly razed to the

ground by the regime, the russian allies, and beyond, so they are going back to places where homes aren't built back, there are no services in these locations. but the thing is, every new country will start with one break and we have to allow people to come back in order to start building and building again. that is another reason why we need israel to stop their advance in the south, make sure they're no longer bombing our infrastructure, making it even harder for us to solidify what this new syria will look like. so, overall, it is difficult. also, many of the people returning from afar have to be careful about what their status is in their host communities, their host countries, and want to make sure they are following the laws of that land, so that they don't compromise anything as they start to think about going back to syria and back to work again. but overall, people want to return, they want to help rebuild the country after 54 years, and rebuild a country that is for all syrians, not

just for one sector, not just for one part of the country, not just for one family, and that is what is really exciting for >> of course, and the right of refugees to return is a right of everyone around the world, including syrians. thank you so much for your time, i greatly appreciate your insights. >> thank you for having me. next up, an faa drone pilot does make sense of what we have been seeing in the skies above new jersey and beyond. x [ music ] x [ music ] starting within 5 minutes. it also reduced flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler... for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling ...problems urinating vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri. ( ♪♪ ) nothing brings us together like eggland's best eggs.

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about the drama over drones here in the new york tri-state area, specifically in new jersey, were hundreds of sightings like these have been reported at night after night this month. concerns are growing over what these things are, what they are doing, and more importantly, who they actually belong to. today, senate majority leader chuck schumer called on homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas to deploy special drone detection technology across new york and new jersey, and vowed to work to pass legislation to help local officials detect the drones. >> we have seen lots of recent sightings in new york, new jersey, long island, staten island, so, it is remarkable with all these sightings over the last while, why do we have more questions than answers? >> it is comes as new york governor kathy hochul says this has gone too far after a drone shut down runways at an airport in new york friday night.

federal officials including alejandro mayorkas have insisted the drones do not pose a national security threat, nor a threat to public safety. i'm joined now unset by -- oh, sorry. >> there are thousands of drones flown every day in the united states, recreational drones, commercial drones. that is the reality. and in september 2023, the federal aviation administration, the faa, changed the rules, so that drones could fly at night. and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk. >> i'm joined now on site by an faa pilot and cofounder of gargoyle systems, it is great to have you on the show. walk us through this, what is your assessment of the story? more importantly, as we heard from senator chuck schumer, the

u.s. has this drone detecting technology, maybe some people are surprised why that hasn't already been deployed. should it be deployed and how would that use the public's worry? but yeah, the first thing to look at when you're looking at drones is is it a friend or is it a foe? we are seeing a lot of nefarious cases where people are robbing houses, there are private concerns, corporate espionage and things like that, as we have the ability to see what is actually there in the sky. on the friendly side, there is a lot they could be doing here. this and drones to save lives, getting pills out there, there are all these great uses. this could also be the case, too, there is something we are searching for that they don't want to alert the public to that might be of concern, but they are using this technology to scan because there might be something of concern there. >> when people talk about adversaries or enemies of the united states, how realistic is that to happen, given the fact that on our northern border, we have a very close ally as part of our security umbrella for north america? they have the same interests

that we have. and on our southern border, we mexico, we have pretty good relationship with them, not an enemy by any means, not a country that would be deploying drones, so what is the likelihood that an adversary or an enemy could be deploying drones off our shores in this kind of capacity? >> off of our shores, i don't think that is the case. but home builds, 3-d printing, using a.i., there are a lot of ways you could build drones right here that could hypothetically poison the water supply, but a payload and take down our electrical grid, so there are certain things that could happen instantly, so we really need to look at drone vulnerability risk assessments, we need to see what is exposed right now. this should be an alarm for all of us of what could happen, but these drones particularly, i think there on the friendly side, but it should raise the alarm for what could happen. >> so given the fact that not -- something various could happen in the future, not with these drones specifically, but how do we respond, to even have

the capacity to respond to some of the threats you identify? >> we have the capability, but we don't have the capacity. drones are looking -- there are different ways we could be using it and we could scale that out, but we really need to look at it from a local community standpoint. we want to enable people to be able to detect drones in their own neighborhoods, near their own households, near their own office buildings, we think it is up to the community to really come together and have these, otherwise we can't really rely on the government to be able to deploy all these. >> secretary alejandro mayorkas was saying -- is it correct when he is seeing more drones because the faa is making it a little easier to apply drones, so people are seeing what has always been there, there is more proliferation of it? >> one thing, on november 25th and december, the faa put out a notice and is a classified flight right out of mcguire air force, central new jersey where

a lot of the reports came from, so these were legitimate testing fights, and right now in ukraine, there is a lot of drone warfare, we might be testing something there. this might have been a classified flight, which if we are at risk here and abroad, we are telling what that technology is better than comes all these drones, so people are dusting off the drones they got five years ago are they got in the black friday sale, and most of these are commercial flights. nine out of 10 that i see on reddit and online and whatnot, their airplanes. people haven't been looking up before, and i guess -- >> should we be worried about it interfering? we keep hearing the statement that it is not a threat to public safety, and i think the immediate concern most people have is you get an amateur drone operator, somebody who is not licensed, maybe a kid playing around with his toy, or maybe something a little more sophisticated, and pleasant right into an airport where a plane is taking off or landing and creating a public safety issue. >> i think that is a big

concern right now. this hysteria is causing so much out there, so much concern, people are mistaken claims, they are shooting them out of the sky, please don't do that, it is a federal offense, there are a lot of reasons you shouldn't do that, but that is what is happening. this is starting to spiral into something worse because of the hysteria. >> so, let me ask you, do you think the government is communicating adequately? there is some frustration and concern with governor kathy hochul, she is saying this has gone too far, the government needs to do more. marjorie taylor greene says the government controls the drones, so they know exactly what is happening. do you think that the government is not doing well or needs to do better at communicating to the public about drones in general, and specifically this wave of drones that we have been seeing? >> i don't think the government communicates as well as people think they do. >> you're talking about internally or to the public? >> of both. and also, think about it,

politicians need clickbait, they need to say things that are outrageous to get attention, they need to constantly do that, so they are not going to be informed on what is really going on, especially if we are looking for something hazardous or we are building something that might be used in stealth mode in ukraine, you can't just tell everybody that. so, it still needs to be classified, and we are meant not to have a tight communication system. >> but you can categorically say they're not aliens right now on this show, right? >> i don't think they are. >> mike, greatly appreciate it, really enjoyed the conversation. thank you so much, a new hour of ayman starts right after this. starts right after this.

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