Facebook's parent company, Meta, has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund, and members of Congress voice their concerns over mystery drone sightings in New Jersey.

Meta donates $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund.

The donation comes just weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the offering Thursday. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Stephen Miller, who has been appointed deputy chief of staff for Trump's second term, has said that Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump's economic plans. The tech CEO has been seeking to change his company's perception on the right following a rocky relationship with Trump.

Trump was kicked off Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The company restored his account in early 2023.

During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president but has voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump's response to his first assassination attempt.

Still, Trump had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly during the campaign. In July, he posted a message on his own social network, Truth Social, threatening to send election fraudsters to prison in part by citing a nickname he used for the Meta CEO. "ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" Trump wrote.

Corporations have traditionally made up a large share of donors to presidential inaugurals, with an exception in 2009, when then-President-elect Barack Obama refused to accept corporate donations. He reversed course for his second inaugural in 2013.

Facebook did not donate to either Biden's 2021 inaugural or Trump's 2017 inaugural.

Google donated $285,000 each to Trump first inaugural and Biden's inaugural, according to Federal Election Commission records. Inaugural committees are required to disclose the source of their fundraising, but not how they spend the money. Microsoft gave $1 million to Obama's second inaugural, but only $500,000 to Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckeberg (Godofredo A. Vásquez, AP File)

Lawmakers demand answers on drone sightings in New York, New Jersey

A coalition of lawmakers from New York and New Jersey this week called for answers about recent drone activity in the two states.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration requesting a briefing on how federal and local law enforcement are addressing the source of recent “unmanned aerial system activity.”

The letter, which followed multiple unexplained drone sightings in the New York City area and northern New Jersey, stated that residents and local police have reported drones flying at night since late November. The lawmakers highlighted potential safety and security risks, noting that the drones are sometimes seen “at sensitive military sites.”

They also stressed the potential for drones to disrupt public safety, pointing to an incident where a medical helicopter was “prevented from transporting a seriously injured patient for care because of the presence of these drones.”

“We request that the briefing you provide also include any authorities, tools or staff your agencies may require to address these ongoing incidents and the broader security challenge,” the letter read.

The letter followed similar comments made by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Thursday, when he called for the drones to be “shot down, if necessary,” especially over airports or military bases.

“We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Blumenthal said.

In response, the White House said Thursday that a review of the sightings found that many were likely manned aircraft, not drones. National Security spokesman John Kirby also said there was no evidence that the sightings posed a national security or public safety threat.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh has also confirmed they are not U.S. military drones.

The FBI and DHS, in a joint statement, confirmed they were investigating the sightings. The agencies said they have not corroborated any of the reported sightings with electronic detection, and that reviews of available images appear to show many of the reported drones are actually manned aircraft.

The drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security.