Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of improperly disclosing classified information by suggesting aliens are real, an allegation made without supporting evidence.
“He took it out of classified information … He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Georgia. “He made a big mistake.”
The comments followed an interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, released on Saturday, where Obama was asked about the existence of extraterrestrial life. He responded, “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 this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
Area 51 is a classified Air Force facility in Nevada, which fringe theorists have long speculated holds alien bodies and crashed spacecraft. However, CIA archives released in 2013 identified it as a test site for top-secret spy planes.
Crucially, there was no indication in Obama’s remarks that he relied on classified information for his assertion.
In a subsequent Instagram post on Sunday, Obama further clarified his position, stating, “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” He explained his belief in aliens stemmed from the statistical probability of life in a vast universe, while deeming visits to Earth unlikely due to distance.
When questioned on Thursday about his own knowledge of alien existence, Trump stated, “I don’t know if they’re real or not.”
The White House declined to add to Trump’s comments, and Obama’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In recent years, the Pentagon has intensified efforts to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects.
Senior military leaders confirmed in 2022 that they had found no evidence to suggest alien visits or crash landings on Earth. A 2024 Pentagon report further concluded that US government investigations since the end of World War Two have uncovered no evidence of extraterrestrial technology, attributing most sightings to misidentified ordinary objects and phenomena.
Discussion about this post