Trump weighs in on UFOs in Stephanopoulos interview
President Trump weighed in on the possibility of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) during his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos this week, saying he doesn’t particularly believe in their existence.
The president also acknowledged that he’s been briefed on the subject.
“I think it’s probably — I want them to think whatever they think. They do say, I mean, I’ve seen, and I’ve read, and I’ve heard. And I did have one very brief meeting on it. But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly,” Trump said in the interview.
Stephanopoulos asked if the president thought he would know if there were cases of extraterrestrial life.{mosads}
“Well, I think my great — our great — pilots would know,” Trump responded. “And some of them really see things that are a little bit different than in the past. So we’re going to see. But we’ll watch it. You’ll be the first to know.”
The Navy recently rolled out new protocols for reporting “unexplained aerial phenomena” after pilots reported seeing unidentified flying objects while training over the East Coast in 2014 and 2015.
Multiple Navy pilots said they spotted “strange objects” with “no visible engine” reaching 30,000 feet and going hypersonic speeds, The New York Times reported last month.
The pilots who reported the aerial phenomena “speculated that the objects were part of some classified and extremely advanced drone program,” the newspaper reported at the time.
One pilot reportedly said he “almost hit one of those things” described it as looking “like a sphere encasing a cube.”
The sightings were reported to the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which analyzed the radar data, video footage and accounts provided by senior officers.
The Pentagon told the Times that the $22 million program ended in 2012 after funding, which was largely requested by former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), expired.
Its supporters say it still exists but that the Defense Department has stopped funding it.