US President Donald Trump has said that he will direct federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, to begin identifying and releasing government files related to aliens and extraterrestrial life.

The statement came hours after Trump criticised former president Barack Obama for remarks made during a podcast interview in which Obama said “Aliens are real.”

“He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. 

“He made a big mistake.”

When asked whether he believes aliens exist, Trump said: “Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not.”

Obama made the initial comments in an interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, released last Saturday.

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51,” Obama said.

“There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

Obama later clarified his position in a post on Instagram, stating: “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

He added that, given the size of the universe, he believes it is statistically possible that life exists beyond Earth.

There was no indication that Obama relied on classified information during the interview. 

On Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “based on the tremendous interest shown,” he would seek the release of files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

In a 2024 report, the Pentagon said there was “no evidence” that the US government had encountered alien life and that most unidentified sightings were attributed to ordinary objects.

In 2023, the US House of Representatives held a panel on unidentified anomalous phenomena, commonly known as UFOs. The hearing did not produce confirmation of alien life.