IN BRIEF
- Trump's move comes after former US president Barack Obama said in a podcast last week that "[aliens] are real".
- Trump had earlier said Obama had "made a big mistake" in discussing aliens.
United States President Donald Trump says he’ll release government files relating to alien and extraterrestrial life.
He posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he'll "direct 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 unidentified flying objects (UFOs) ..."
Trump said the move comes after "tremendous interest" shown, possibly after former US president Barack Obama said last week: "[aliens] are real."
Obama appeared on No Lie, a podcast hosted by US YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen. When asked if aliens are real, he responded: "They’re real, but I haven't seen them."
"They’re not being kept in Area 51 [a top secret US Air Force facility]. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States," Obama continued.
Out of the almost 50-minute interview with Cohen, it was those comments during a quick-fire question round that took the internet by storm. One TikTok video of Obama's response gained six million views.
Since the interview, he issued a statement clarifying that his answer was in line with "the spirit of the speed round of questions".
"Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!" Obama wrote in a caption alongside the video.
Trump had earlier said Obama had "made a big mistake" in discussing aliens, claiming without evidence he had disclosed classified information.
Asked what he thought of Obama’s comment that aliens are real, Trump said: "Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not, but he gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that."
He then said he doesn’t have an opinion on aliens, but said "a lot of people believe it".
"I may get him out of trouble by declassifying."
It's unclear when the files will be released.
