https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/trump-aliens-ufos-pentagon-files-release

The president’s announcement came after predecessor Barack Obama went viral last week for saying aliens are ‘real’

Donald Trump has announced he is directing the defense department and other agencies to release whatever files they have on the search for alien life.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump said that he will ask the defense secretary and others “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).”

Comments from Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, went viral last weekend after podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen asked the former president if aliens are “real.”

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama responded. “And they’re not being kept in, what is it? Area 51. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

On Thursday, Trump accused Obama of disclosing “classified information”.

The president told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I don’t know if they’re real or not,” and said of Obama, “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”

Obama clarified earlier this week that he had not seen evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” but said, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/trump-aliens-ufos-pentagon-files-release