- Trump says there is strong public interest in the topic.
- Trump says he doesn’t know if aliens actually exist.
- Accuses Obama of Leaking Classified Alien-Related Documents.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he would order federal agencies to begin releasing government records related to aliens and unidentified flying objects, highlighting what he described as strong public interest in the issue.
In a social media post, Trump said he would order Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and other agencies to release the information, calling the issue “extremely interesting and important.”
Earlier in the day, Trump, without providing evidence, accused former President Barack Obama of inappropriately disclosing classified information during public discussions about extraterrestrials, saying Obama “made a big mistake.”
“He took it out of classified information…He’s not supposed to do that,” Trump told reporters during a trip to Georgia.
During an interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, published Saturday, Obama was asked if aliens were real.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being held at Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this huge conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” Obama said.
Area 51 is a classified Air Force installation in Nevada that fringe theorists believe contains alien bodies and a crashed spaceship. CIA records released in 2013 indicated it was a test site for top-secret spy planes.
Pentagon investigations
Nothing in Obama’s remarks indicates that the former president disclosed classified information. Obama’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“During my presidency, I have seen no evidence that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” » Obama said in an Instagram post on Sunday.
In his article, Obama explained his belief that extraterrestrials existed by saying that the statistical chance of life beyond Earth was high due to the vast expanse of the universe. He added that the chances of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth were low given the distance.
Following his comments about Obama, Trump added that he had not seen evidence of the existence of aliens, saying: “I don’t know if they’re real or not.”
In recent years, the Pentagon has investigated reports of UFOs, and top military officials said in 2022 that they had found no evidence to suggest that extraterrestrials had visited Earth or crashed here.
A 2024 Pentagon report stated that U.S. government investigations since the end of World War II had found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology and that most sightings were misidentified ordinary objects and phenomena.
The National Archives and Records Administration website states that it has UFO-related materials in numerous collections.
Myths of Area 51
The Pentagon has been cataloging reports of what it calls unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, for decades.
In a March 2024 report, the Department of Defense said it found no evidence that any of the incidents investigated involved extraterrestrial technology or contact with extraterrestrial life. The report further notes that investigators found no indication that the unexplained sightings were attributable to foreign adversaries.
Area 51, the secret Cold War-era military installation located in the Nevada desert, has long held a central place in conspiracy lore. In 2013, the Central Intelligence Agency officially acknowledged the site’s existence, while rejecting claims involving a crashed spacecraft, extraterrestrial beings or staged Moon landings.
The public’s curiosity sometimes took a theatrical form. A few years ago, a loosely organized online campaign called “Storm Area 51” attracted dozens of people to the perimeter of the base, declaring their intention to “see these aliens.” Online forums and social media groups remain active, with some users insisting the federal government knows much more than it has disclosed.
In recent years, military pilots and service members have reported the presence of hundreds of unexplained objects in restricted airspace, prompting some lawmakers to press the Pentagon for greater transparency and a clearer assessment of whether such phenomena pose a risk to aviation safety or national security.
