Trump Orders Release of Files on Aliens After Accusing Obama of Sharing Classified Details
President Donald Trump said he will push US agencies to identify and release government files on Aliens and UFOs after accusing former President Barack Obama of revealing classified information when Obama said "aliens are real" during a podcast interview.
Aliens comment sparks claims of a security breach
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Obama's podcast remark amounted to the disclosure of classified information, calling the comment "a big mistake" and saying "he's not supposed to be doing that. " Trump added he does not know whether aliens are real. The former president's original exchange on the podcast included the line "They're real, but I haven't seen them, " and he later clarified that he had seen no evidence during his presidency that extraterrestrials had made contact with the United States.
White House directive: agencies to prepare files for release
Following the exchange, Trump posted that he will direct US agencies, including the defence department, to "begin the process of identifying and releasing" files "related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. " He framed the move as a response to wide public interest and ordered the relevant agencies to start preparing materials for disclosure.
The directive explicitly names UAP and UFO records alongside materials tied to alien and extraterrestrial life. The president's instruction to investigators to assemble and declassify related files follows the podcast exchange and the public clarification by the former president that he had seen no definitive evidence of contact while in office.
Context from prior reviews and recent statements
In a 2024 Pentagon report, investigators concluded there was "no evidence" that the US government had encountered alien life, and that most UFO sightings were ordinary objects. That assessment, combined with congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena in recent years, frames the administration's new push to identify and release records. The current move signals an effort to place previously held or scattered materials into a more transparent, reviewable process.
The president's call for disclosure and his public rebuke of the former president mark two concrete developments in the recent exchange: first, the accusation that a former commander in chief disclosed classified material by publicly stating a belief in non-human visitors; second, an active White House order directing federal agencies to begin identifying and preparing related files for release. Both developments have intensified public attention on government handling of information tied to Aliens, UAP and UFOs.
Officials have yet to specify the timeline for review or release, or what categories of documents will be included beyond those categories named by the president. The ensuing process will determine whether the material assembled yields new insights or remains consistent with prior assessments that found no confirmed contact with extraterrestrial life.
For now, the administration's directive establishes a formal review pathway and places the topic of Aliens and unidentified aerial phenomena squarely on the government's declassification agenda, while the political fallout from the podcast exchange continues to prompt questions about public comments from former officials.
