President Donald Trump officially directed US agencies to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files regarding aliens and extraterrestrial life.
Earlier in the day, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of improperly disclosing classified information when introducing aliens publicly.
This accusation was followed by a social media post in which Trump directed federal agencies to begin releasing government files on extraterrestrial life. When asked if he personally believes aliens are real, Trump replied: “Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not.”
Barack Obama sat down for a podcast interview released on Saturday with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cowen; during the interview, Obama was asked directly about the existence of aliens. He replied confidently, “They are real.”
This is not the first time Obama has commented on aliens and UFOs. In an interview aired on The Late Late Show with James Garden in 2021, he joked, “When it comes to aliens, there are some things I just can’t tell you on air.”
Following the humor, Obama spoke more seriously about the issue, confirming that UAP sightings are genuine while admitting the US government has been able to identify their origin.
After the recent controversy, Obama has been making headlines and sought to clarify that he thinks it’s statistically likely life exists beyond Earth.
In this connection he said: “I saw no evidence during my presidency extraterrestrials have made contact with us.”
According to the BBC, Trump remarked on Thursday onboard Air Force One that while many people believe in the existence of aliens, he never talks about it, and "doesn't have an opinion on it.”
Trump posted on Truth Social that based on the intense public fascination he will seek the release of files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any sort of information linked to the most intriguing matters.
Public interest in UFOs is rising, and the possibility of a government cover up regarding extraterrestrial life re-emerged after former officials leaked Navy videos of unidentified objects to the media in 2017.
While information has been revealed, it publicly demonstrated that a large variety of UFO reports remain unsolved, even though likely innocuous in nature.