A public dispute between President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama has drawn renewed attention to longstanding questions about extraterrestrial life and government transparency, after comments made during a recent podcast appearance circulated widely online.
The exchange began during an interview on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, where Obama was asked directly whether aliens exist.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama said, adding that extraterrestrials are not being held at Area 51 “unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
The remarks quickly spread across social media platforms. The following day, Obama clarified his comments in an Instagram post, explaining that he was speaking in statistical terms about the likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe. He noted the vast scale of the cosmos and wrote that life beyond Earth is plausible, but emphasized, “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
Scientific perspectives have long framed the discussion in probabilistic terms. According to NASA, the odds of humanity being alone in the universe are estimated at less than one in 10 billion trillion, assuming that life can develop on other planets under suitable conditions.
President Trump responded to Obama’s podcast comments while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. Trump alleged that Obama had revealed classified material during the interview.
“I can tell you he gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said. “He made a big mistake, he took it out of classified information.”
When asked separately whether aliens are real, Trump said, “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.”
Later the same day, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had directed his administration to begin identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, as well as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and UFOs. He did not provide a timeline for when such materials might be made public.
Trump also stated that he would “get [Obama] out of trouble” by declassifying relevant information. However, he did not link Obama’s podcast remarks to any specific classified documents or programs.
The discussion follows years of intermittent public commentary from U.S. leaders about unexplained aerial sightings. In a 2021 interview, Obama acknowledged that the U.S. government possesses footage of objects in the sky that officials cannot fully explain, though he did not confirm extraterrestrial origins.
Former President Bill Clinton has also addressed the topic in the past. Clinton said he directed federal officials to review claims tied to Area 51, the Nevada military installation long associated with conspiracy theories involving alien technology. According to Clinton, the review did not uncover any unusual findings.
The CIA formally acknowledged the existence of Area 51 in 2013 but did not confirm claims involving extraterrestrial craft or hidden facilities.
Trump’s directive to review and potentially release files related to unidentified phenomena adds a new dimension to ongoing public interest in the subject. While no timetable has been announced, the move signals the possibility of additional disclosures concerning UAP investigations.
