Washington: President Donald Trump accused former president Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” after Obama said in a recent podcast interview that aliens are “real”.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy: “Barack Obama said that aliens are real. Have you seen any evidence of non-human visitors to Earth?”
“Well, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump responded.
Pressed on whether aliens are real, Trump said: “I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.”
Trump also suggested he could intervene on the matter. “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying,” he said during the exchange.
The comments came after Obama, in an interview published last weekend on the “No Lie” podcast with journalist Brian Tyler Cohen, was asked about extraterrestrial life.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama said, adding that they are 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,” he said.
Obama later sought to clarify his remarks in a social media post, saying he “saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us.”
“I was trying to stick to the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify. 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!” he added.
The White House referred to Trump’s remarks when asked whether Obama had revealed classified information.
Trump has addressed the issue of unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life on several occasions in recent years. In June 2019, he told ABC News: “I did have one very brief meeting on it,” adding that “people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.”
Also in 2019, he told Tucker Carlson: “Well, I don’t want to really get into it too much. But personally, I tend to doubt it. I’m not a believer, but you know, I guess anything is possible.”
In June 2020, when asked about Roswell, Trump said: “I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting.”
(IANS)
