Former U.S. President Barack Obama said aliens are “real,” but emphasised that he never encountered any indication of extraterrestrial contact while in office.
He made the remark during a rapid-fire segment of an interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen in Los Angeles on 14 February.
When asked "Are aliens real?."
He replied jokingly, "They’re real, but I haven't seen them," before dismissing the idea of hidden facilities at Area 51.
“There's no underground facility. Unless there's this enormous conspiracy. And they hid it from the President of the United States.”
When pressed on what he first wanted to know after entering the White House, Obama replied: "Where are the aliens?", laughing with Cohen as he recalled the moment.
The clip went viral, prompting Obama to issue a clarification on social media on 15 February.
He wrote that, statistically, the scale of the universe makes the existence of life elsewhere plausible, but that the distances between solar systems make the likelihood of contact extremely low.
He added that he saw no proof that extraterrestrials had ever visited Earth.
“I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” Obama said later in a post on social media.
Area 51 is a remote U.S. Air Force installation in southern Nevada whose existence was formally acknowledged in 2013 when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released Cold War records confirming it had been used to test the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and later the A-12 Oxcart programme.
The documents showed the facility operated as a high-security range for advanced surveillance projects, with secrecy maintained to protect classified aircraft capabilities.
The site became further embedded in public imagination through the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico, where debris initially reported as a “flying disc” was later identified as part of Project Mogul, a Cold War balloon programme designed to detect Soviet nuclear tests.
The Roswell episode helped shape decades of speculation, though no released U.S. government records have tied Area 51 to extraterrestrial activity.
Interest surged again in 2019 when a viral campaign titled “Storm Area 51” attracted millions of online pledges to gather near the base.
Local authorities prepared for a large turnout, but only a few thousand people arrived in Nevada, and the gatherings remained peaceful.
Reuters reports that Congress held its first public hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in more than 50 years on 17 May 2022, where Pentagon officials confirmed hundreds of military sighting reports.
In July 2023, senators introduced measures requiring the release of government UAP records and expanding federal data-collection efforts.
The U.S. Air Force reminded the public that the installation is an active, restricted military site and that unauthorised entry is prohibited.
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile ...
In a dramatic shake-up at the top of the U.S. Justice Department, President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post, a Wh...
Britain said on Thursday that around 40 countries are exploring ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route effectively blocked...
American President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to pull the United States out of NATO after European nations refused to join a U.S.-led nav...
Former Kyrgyz MP Shairbek Tashiev has been detained in a corruption investigation linked to state oil firm Kyrgyzneftegaz, as the case expands to i...
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
“He is not… the owner!” U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon wrote, temporarily halting construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom, underscoring a cascade of legal, regulatory and public opposition that has engulfed the controversial expansion.
Iran is “essentially… no longer a threat,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (1 April), signalling what he described as the final phase of the war with Iran. In a televised address from the White House, Trump stated the U.S.-led campaign "Operation Epic Fury" was nearing completion.
There are fears of an oil spill after a drone strike hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai on Tuesday, while U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran reportedly killed at least two people. A loud explosion was heard in Beirut in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, as oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
There are fears of an oil spill after a drone strike hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai on Tuesday, while U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran reportedly killed at least two people. A loud explosion was heard in Beirut in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, as oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.
Russian-flagged tanker carrying approximately 700,000 barrels of crude oil docked at Cuba's Matanzas oil terminal on Tuesday, shipping data confirmed, marking a vital and controversial delivery to an island paralysed by severe energy shortages and a suffocating U.S. blockade.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
A Russian military An-26 aircraft has crashed in Crimea, killing all 30 people on board, Russia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed.
In a dramatic shake-up at the top of the U.S. Justice Department, President Donald Trump has removed Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post, a White House official confirmed on Thursday.
American President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to pull the United States out of NATO after European nations refused to join a U.S.-led naval mission to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.
France has unveiled a delayed wave of renewable energy tenders to boost energy independence and strengthen domestic and European industry.
China is emerging as one of the more stable economies amid the latest global oil shock, thanks to years of planning, diversified energy sources and a steady shift towards renewable power.
In a major policy reversal, the U.S. Treasury has removed Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, from its sanctions list, signalling a sharp shift in Washington’s approach to Caracas.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment