Donald Trump reportedly interviewed several U.S. military pilots about their firsthand UFO encounters while in office, the former President recently revealed.
Trump, the 45th U.S. President and a current contender in the heated 2024 election, made the revelations on Thursday during an appearance on Fox News’ Gutfeld! in response to a question from panelist Kat Timpf.
Timpf asked Trump whether aliens were being kept at a classified U.S. Air Force facility in Nevada known as Area 51, popularly associated with claims involving secret government dealings with UFOs, which the Pentagon now calls unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
“You know, I’ll tell ya, it’s a funny thing because, I think that might be a question that I get more than any question,” the former President said. “It is the craziest thing.”
“I will say this. I don’t think I’m a believer, but I’ve interviewed pilots that look—I like Tom Cruise—but better than Tom Cruise,” Trump said as Timpf and other panelists listened with stunned expressions.
“They were in the Oval Office, three or four pilots,” Trump continued. “These are not people that make up stories.”
“They said, all I know sir is there was a round object that was going four times faster than my F-22, which is a very fast plane,” he added.
“And it wasn’t—it shouldn’t have been—it was round sir,” Trump recalled of the descriptions the pilots reportedly provided him of the unidentified object.
“I mean, four or five guys I’ve interviewed, solid people, great pilots for the U.S. Air Force… they’ve seen things that they cannot explain,” Trump said.
Previously, the former president may have alluded to this meeting when he told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in 2019 that he “did have one very brief meeting” about the UAP subject while in office. However, he has consistently maintained skepticism regarding his personal beliefs toward the subject, which he also expressed to Stephanopoulos.
“People are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not [particularly],” Trump told Stephanopoulos. Yet despite his stated skepticism toward UFOs, Trump has also said on many occasions that he believes U.S. pilots who report such encounters have seen something they could not reconcile with any technologies known to be in use by the United States or its foreign adversaries as well as any natural phenomena.
“I think my great pilots would know,” Trump told Stephanopoulos in 2019 when asked about his views on the existence of extraterrestrial life. “Our great pilots would know.”
Earlier this month, podcaster Lex Fridman asked Trump whether he would release additional UFO footage obtained by U.S. military pilots if he wins reelection in November.
“A lot of people want to know,” Fridman told Trump during the interview. “Will you help push the Pentagon to release more footage, which a lot of people claim is available.”
“Oh yeah, sure, I’ll do that. I’d love to do that,” Trump responded, adding that he was also receiving a significant number of requests for the release of additional official records related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, portions of which were released during his time in office.
Trump is not the only U.S. president who has spoken about aerial incursions involving unknown objects. Last February, President Joe Biden issued a statement in the aftermath of the shootdown of several “unidentified aerial objects” that occurred in U.S. and Canadian airspace.
“Our intelligence community is still assessing all three incidents,” Biden said at the time. “They are reporting to me daily and will continue their urgent efforts to do so, and I will communicate that to the Congress.”
Biden said the objects were not believed to have been associated with foreign surveillance efforts by China or other adversary nations and were most likely balloons launched by private companies or scientific research institutions.
The February 2023 shootdowns—an uncharacteristically forceful Pentagon response—are likely to have been influenced by the overflight of a Chinese surveillance balloon equipped with advanced sensing capabilities earlier that month, prompting heightened security measures across the U.S. at that time.
“Make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down,” Biden said of the incidents.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently running for president against former President Trump, has not made any public statements indicating her views about UFOs.
The subject has received renewed interest following coverage in 2017 by The New York Times and other outlets, which revealed recent U.S. government efforts to evaluate such phenomena.
Public interest in the subject has since prompted further official investigations, which include the short-lived Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), officially established in August 2020 while Trump was still in office. This program was succeeded by the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the current official U.S. government office tasked with investigating unusual aerial phenomena encountered by U.S. military personnel.
On Tuesday, The Hill confirmed that, following the November election, the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold another hearing in response to the ongoing sightings by military personnel, according to a statement provided by the office of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). The Senate hearing is expected to include an update on AARO’s efforts, as the office continues its mission under Dr. Jon Kosloski, who was announced as the office’s new full-time director in August.
Following Trump’s remarks on Thursday about the stories the unnamed pilots conveyed to him, another panelist, former professional wrestler Tyrus (George Murdoch), asked Trump if he would place tariffs on any aliens confirmed to visit Earth.
“Yes,” the former President said, responding to the joke.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.