Trump Orders Release of Government Documents on UFOs and Aliens
US President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and aliens — a step that some Americans have sought for decades.
“Based on the extraordinary 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 documents relating to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFO),” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, as reported by the AFP news agency on Friday (20 February 2026).
Although he did not specify whether classified documents would be released to the public, Trump added that the files should include “all other information related to these very complex, but very interesting and important matters.”
The Republican president had previously claimed that one of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama, had disclosed “classified” information in a recently viral podcast appearance about the existence of alien life.
“They’re real, but I’ve never seen them and they’re not kept in… Area 51,” Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen, referring to the highly secretive US military facility in Nevada that is central to numerous UFO conspiracy theories.
“There’s no underground facility. Unless there’s a grand conspiracy and they’re hiding it from the President of the United States,” Obama said at the time.
When asked on Thursday (19 February) local time about Obama’s comments, Trump told reporters that Obama “gave out classified information, he shouldn’t have done that.”
Trump did not specify which part of Obama’s statement was classified but claimed “he made a big mistake.”
Regarding his own beliefs about aliens, Trump said: “I don’t know if they’re real or not.”
To date, no evidence has been produced of extraterrestrial life.
Previously, in March 2024, the Pentagon released a report stating that it had no evidence that UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) were alien technology, with many suspicious sightings turning out to be merely weather balloons, spy aircraft, satellites, and other normal activity.