Donald Trump has announced that he will order the Secretary of War and US agencies “to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
Trump made an announcement on his Truth Social platform after former President Barack Obama said last week that “aliens are real” on a podcast.
Initially Trump criticised Obama for his remarks, telling reporters on Air Force One, “Well, he gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that.”
“He made a big mistake,” Trump added.
However, in a Truth Social post later, the president said he was ordering the release of the files following “the tremendous interest shown.”
undefinedBased on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and… pic.twitter.com/3fKQ7wrSvi
undefined The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 20, 2026
On February 14th, speaking on The Brian Tyler Cohen Show, Obama said in response to a quickfire question from the host: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.”
Later, in a clarification posted on his Instagram account, Obama acknowledged the vast expanses of the universe makes extraterrestrial life likely, but that the huge distances between galaxies meant potential contact with Earth is low.
He also added that “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really.”
This made for lots of speculation in the UAP community, with credible sources like congressman Eric Burlison mentioning concealed UFO landings overseas, and more incredible ones like psychic Uri Geller visiting conspiracy theory territory.
Meanwhile, reactions to Trump’s post on X were met with raised eyebrows, as one commenter speculated: “So now aliens card to deflect attention from Epstein files, huh?”
In fact, there was a whole array of memes with many stating that the White House is diverting the public attention away from disclosure of more information about deceased sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Pentagon said in 2024 that there was “no evidence” that the US government encountered alien life and that most UAPs were ordinary objects.
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