{"id":492782,"date":"2026-02-20T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492782\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:44:11","slug":"trump-orders-pentagon-federal-agencies-to-release-files-on-ufos-and-aliens-donald-trump-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/492782\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump orders Pentagon, federal agencies to release files on UFOs and aliens | Donald Trump News"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president\u2019s announcement comes amid a surge of interest following comments on aliens by ex-President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

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Published On 20 Feb 202620 Feb 2026<\/p>\n

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United States President Donald Trump said he is directing federal agencies, including the defence department, to begin \u201cidentifying and releasing\u201d government records related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs)<\/a> and alien life forms.<\/p>\n

Trump did not specify whether classified documents would be released to the public, but added that the files should include \u201cany and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBased 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),\u201d Trump said late on Thursday in a post on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n

The move appears to stem from a surge in public attention<\/a> following recent comments by former US President Barack Obama, who suggested in a podcast interview that aliens are \u201creal\u201d, but that he had not personally seen one, and none were being kept in secret government facilities.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Obama released a statement on Instagram, clarifying what he meant by his comments, which have since gone viral.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSince it\u2019s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there\u2019s life out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we\u2019ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday, Trump had criticised Obama for his remarks regarding aliens, telling reporters that Obama \u201cwas not supposed to be doing that\u201d and implying that the former president\u2019s comments bordered on classified information.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a big mistake,\u201d Trump said of Obama.<\/p>\n

No evidence has yet been produced of intelligent life beyond Earth, and the Pentagon in 2024 released a report stating that it had no proof that UFOs were alien technology, most being spy planes, satellites and weather balloons.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, messages of support poured in swiftly on social media and from Capitol Hill following Trump\u2019s announcement to release all documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you POTUS!\u201d wrote Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who chairs a congressional task force on unidentified aerial phenomena.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Chairwoman of the Task Force that investigates these subjects, we are incredibly grateful for you doing this! I look forward to going through all the footage, photos, and reports with the public!\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Democratic Senator John Fetterman also voiced support<\/a> during an appearance on Fox News, calling Trump\u2019s decision \u201cfantastic\u201d and saying that \u201cAmerica and the world deserve this\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president\u2019s announcement comes amid a surge of interest following comments on aliens by ex-President Barack Obama. Listen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2490,43,44,285,41,39,42,40,1055,6075],"class_list":{"0":"post-492782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-space","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-us-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}