Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) warned of "drone vigilantes" and insisted that the unidentified vehicles were flying over his home.
While speaking to ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Christie revealed that he had observed drones in his neighborhood.
"Two mornings ago, over my house at 6:15 in the morning, saw them myself, so did my wife," he insisted.
"But is this a mass hysteria of some sort?" Stephanopoulos wondered.
"I lived in New Jersey my whole life," Christie noted. "This is the first time that I've noticed drones over my house."
The former governor argued that there was a "vacuum" of information.
"Then all the conspiracy theories get filled in there," he said. "So you've got people like Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) saying there's an Iranian mothership off the coast of New Jersey."
"Absolutely not true," Christie added. "You can't have conspiracy theorists filling the space."
He argued that the federal and state officials should act quickly, or "you're going to have individuals acting as drone vigilantes, and they're going to start taking them down."
"That's not what we want, because they're now an important part of commerce and law enforcement uses them frequently for surveillance and other things," Christie concluded.
