President Donald Trump said Thursday that former President Barack Obama may have crossed a serious line by discussing extraterrestrial life on a recent podcast, suggesting that Obama had disclosed “classified information” in the process.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked about Obama’s recent comments by Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy. Doocy referenced Obama’s claim that aliens “are real” and pressed Trump on whether he had seen any evidence of non-human visitors to Earth.
“He gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump responded.
When Doocy followed up, asking whether Trump’s comment meant that aliens were in fact real, the president stopped short of confirming anything of the sort. Instead, he made clear that he was not taking a position on the existence of extraterrestrials.
“I can tell you he gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump repeated. “He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.”
Trump added that he did not have a firm opinion on the broader topic of alien life.
“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,” he said.
Turning the tables, Trump asked Doocy directly, “Do you believe it, Peter?”
Doocy shifted the focus back to presidential authority, noting that a sitting president has the power to declassify information at will.
“The president can declassify anything he wants to,” Doocy said.
“Maybe I’ll get him out of trouble,” Trump replied. “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”
The exchange came after Obama’s appearance on the left-leaning “No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen” podcast, where the former president addressed the subject of extraterrestrial life during what was described as a speed round of questions. In that conversation, Obama stated, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” while also attempting to tamp down speculation about secret government facilities.
“They’re not being kept in … Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” Obama said, adding that he had not personally seen any aliens.
The comments quickly sparked widespread discussion on social media, prompting Obama to issue a clarification on Instagram. In his follow-up, he said he was speaking more about probabilities than confirming any concrete evidence.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” Obama wrote.
He elaborated that, in his view, the vastness of the universe makes the existence of life elsewhere statistically likely. However, he said the enormous distances between solar systems make the odds of alien visitation to Earth low.
“Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” Obama said. “But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
Trump’s remarks now add a new layer of political intrigue to what began as a podcast soundbite, raising questions about how former presidents handle sensitive information — even when discussing the unknown.
