Trump claims Obama revealed classified information when he said aliens are real
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US President Donald Trump also said that former President Barack Obama "made a big mistake" in making his comments.
PHOTO: REUTERS
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - United States President Donald Trump on Feb 19 accused former President Barack Obama of disclosing classified information when he recently said that aliens were real, but Mr Trump did not cite any evidence to support the allegation.
“He took it out of classified information... He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while travelling to Georgia. “He made a big mistake.”
During an interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen released on Feb 14, Mr Obama was asked if aliens are real.
“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,” Mr Obama said.
Area 51 is a classified Air Force facility in Nevada that fringe theorists have speculated holds alien bodies and a crashed spaceship. CIA archives released in 2013 said it was a test site for top-secret spy planes.
There was no indication in his remarks that the former president relied on classified information.
“I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” Mr Obama said in an Instagram post on Feb 15.
In the post, Mr Obama explained his belief that aliens exist by saying the statistical odds of life beyond Earth were high because the universe is so vast. He added that the chances of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth were low given the distance.
On Feb 19, Mr Trump said “I don’t know if they’re real or not” when asked whether he had seen evidence that aliens exist.
The White House said it had nothing to add to the president’s comments. Mr Obama’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon in recent years undertook a push to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects, and senior military leaders said in 2022 they found no evidence to suggest that aliens have visited Earth or crash-landed here.
A 2024 Pentagon report said U.S. government investigations since the end of World War Two have found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology and most sightings were misidentified ordinary objects and phenomena. REUTERS
