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U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he has directed federal agencies to declassify and release government records related to extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena and UFOs.
The decision follows his accusation that former U.S. President Barack Obama disclosed classified information about aliens.
"Based 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 unidentified flying objects (UFOs)," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"Any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters," he added.
The announcement came hours after Trump claimed Obama made classified information public when the former president said aliens "are real" on a podcast last week.
"He gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
"He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information," he added.
Trump said he "may get him out of trouble by declassifying" the information, though it was unclear what specific information he was referring to.
Asked if he also believes aliens are real, Trump answered: "Well, I don't know if they're real or not."
"No, I don't have an opinion on it. I never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it," Trump added.
Interest in extraterrestrial life surged after Obama told American podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that aliens "are real" during an interview published Saturday.
"They're real, but I haven't seen them," Obama said, answering a question about extraterrestrials.
"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," Obama said.
After the comment made headlines, Obama released a clarifying statement on Instagram, saying he "was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round" during the quickfire question segment.
"Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there," Obama said.
"But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens are low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!," he added.
Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. Air Force facility situated at Groom Lake in southern Nevada. While it has long been the subject of conspiracy theories involving extraterrestrials, its only officially acknowledged function is aircraft testing.
In a 2024 report, the Pentagon said there was "no evidence" that the U.S. government had encountered alien life and that most UFO sightings were ordinary objects.
In 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena. The panel produced no major revelations or confirmation of alien life.
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