Here’s a quick summary of what President Obama said about aliens and what witnesses have testified on the subject in three Congressional hearings since 2023.
Former US President Barack Obama sparked a firestorm over the weekend when he appeared to admit that aliens are “real” by joining popular left-wing podcast hosts.
In an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen published on Saturday, February 14, President Obama appeared to acknowledge the existence of extraterrestrial life during a lightning round of quick questions and succinct answers. Although it was a brief comment during an almost hour-long interview, the soundbite quickly became a source of international media attention.
By the next day, President Obama was in damage control mode on social media, declaring that his answer was simply “in the spirit of speed rounds” and that it was “unlikely” that aliens from outer space were visiting Earth. He further claimed that there is “no evidence” that they were committed while he was president.
But despite President Obama’s recent downplaying of his initial comments, the topic of extraterrestrial life is hardly new among elected officials in the U.S. government, but the involvement of a former president is notable. Congress has convened three times since 2023 to hear testimony from a wide range of experts and insiders on reports of UFOs, which have since been renamed the less stigmatized “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAPs).
Here’s a quick summary of what President Obama said about aliens and what witnesses testified before Congress on the subject.
President Obama says aliens are ‘real’ in podcast interview
Aliens came up briefly when President Obama appeared on a podcast with Cohen on February 14, but Cohen asked the former president about extraterrestrial life as part of a barrage of questions.
“Are there really aliens?” President Obama replied, “They are real, but I’ve never seen them.”
He added that, to his knowledge, Area 51, a top-secret US Air Force facility in Nevada that is deeply rooted in UFO conspiracy lore, does not house extraterrestrial life.
“Unless there’s this huge conspiracy, unless they hide it from the president of the United States, there’s no underground facility,” Obama continued.
Mr. Cohen did not ask any further questions on the matter, but Mr. Obama shared a post on Instagram on February 15 rebutting his comments.
“Statistically speaking, the universe is so vast that there is a high probability that life exists in it,” Obama acknowledged in an Instagram post. “But the distances between our solar systems are so great that it’s unlikely that aliens will ever visit us, and I saw no evidence of extraterrestrial life making contact with us during my time as president. Really!”
Congress hears testimony about UFOs
President Obama’s apparent confession comes nearly five months after witnesses last testified under oath to Congress about a strange flying boat they claim can defeat U.S. military vehicles.
Four witnesses who testified on September 9, 2025 discussed their first-hand experience witnessing what they believed to be UAPs and their knowledge of what the federal government is illegally hiding from members of Congress about this phenomenon.
The hearing was the third to take place in the halls of Congress in recent years, after fiery testimony in July 2023 reignited public interest in UFOs and the possibility that extraterrestrials are piloting them. Throughout three hearings, several witnesses, including journalists and senior military officials, testified about a shadowy military plan to recover and study not only interstellar spacecraft but also extraterrestrial pilots themselves.
Advocates and lawmakers frequently call for transparency during public hearings. Legislation is in the works that would require the federal government to release more information about what has been discovered.
Whistleblower video shows US missile fired at UAP
Watch video of UAP ‘surviving’ Hellfire missile hit
A newly released video shows a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile at what is believed to be an unmanned fighter jet near Yemen, which continued to move after the collision.
One of the highlights of the September hearing was the release of never-before-seen footage purporting to show a U.S. military drone attempting and failing to shoot down a mysterious object.
The video, provided by a whistleblower to Rep. Eric Burleson (R-Missouri), is said to have been shot off the coast of Yemen on October 30, 2024. Burlison called the object an “orb” during the hearing and said it was being tracked by an MQ-9 drone, also known as the Reaper.
The video shows a second off-screen MQ-9 drone firing a Hellfire missile, approaching from the left and making contact with the object, Burlison said at the hearing. The mysterious spaceship appears damaged with small pieces breaking off, but is able to continue on its original course after taking a direct hit.
Witnesses at the hearing, including three military veterans, told Congress that no known human technology is believed to be able to withstand a direct hit from a Hellfire missile.
The Pentagon denies that UFOs are extraterrestrials
The hearing included a discussion of what the Department of Defense is and may not be disclosing about its relatively new All-Spectrum Anomaly Resolution Office, which is tasked with investigating UAPs and sightings.
Many of the sightings AARO has investigated to date have been reported by military fighter pilots, some of whom captured footage from UAP fighter cockpit gun cameras. But so far, authorities have repeatedly denied finding any evidence that the spacecraft is extraterrestrial in nature.
NASA similarly released its own report in September 2023, in which officials advocated further study of the phenomenon, but said NASA had found no evidence that UAPs were extraterrestrial in nature.
Contributor: Kate Perez, USA TODAY
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact elagatta@gannett.com.
