Overview
- In a Late Show interview with Stephen Colbert, Barack Obama said a secret cache of aliens or spacecraft would have leaked because the U.S. government is terrible at keeping secrets.
- He added that he hopes alien life exists and volunteered to serve as Earth's emissary if first contact ever occurs.
- His February podcast quip — "They’re real, but I haven’t seen them" — went viral, and he later clarified on Instagram that he meant life in the universe is statistically likely yet he saw no evidence of contact while in office.
- President Donald Trump has been teasing upcoming releases of UAP and UFO files from the Pentagon and has criticized Obama over the initial remark.
- The renewed attention sits on years of formal UAP reporting efforts, including a government review that logged more than 750 sightings from May 2023 to June 2024 without verified links to extraterrestrial technology.