On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced plans to instruct federal agencies to release government files concerning aliens and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), citing strong public interest in the topic. Through a social media post, Trump said he would direct Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and other relevant agencies to make the information public, describing the matter as “extremely interesting and important.”
Earlier in the day, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of allegedly sharing classified information about aliens publicly, claiming that Obama “made a big mistake.” Speaking to reporters while traveling to Georgia, Trump said Obama “took it out of classified information” and “was not supposed to be doing that,” though he provided no evidence to support the claim.
In a separate interview on the Brian Tyler Cohen podcast released Saturday, Obama was asked whether extraterrestrials exist. He replied, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in … Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s some enormous conspiracy hiding it even from the president.” Area 51, a classified Air Force site in Nevada, has long been the subject of speculation, with theories suggesting it houses alien remains or crashed spacecraft. CIA records released in 2013, however, identified it as a testing ground for secret spy planes.
Obama clarified in an Instagram post that during his presidency, he saw no evidence of alien contact with Earth. He acknowledged the likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe but stressed that interstellar distances make visits highly improbable.
Responding to Obama, Trump said he had not seen proof of alien existence either, stating, “I don’t know if they’re real or not.” Recent Pentagon investigations into UFO sightings have found no indication that extraterrestrials have visited Earth. A 2024 report concluded that post-World War II government investigations produced no evidence of alien technology, with most sightings explained as ordinary phenomena. The National Archives also maintains extensive UFO-related records across multiple collections.
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