President Donald Trump said Friday that "very interesting documents" related to UFOs will be released by the Department of Defense "very, very soon."
"As you remember, I recently directed the Secretary of War ... to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomenon," Trump said during a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix.
"This process is well underway, and we found many very interesting documents, I must say, and the first releases will begin very, very soon," the president continued.
Trump's comments come amid increased pressure from Capitol Hill to disclose files related to unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs. Trump has not said that he believes the phenomena are of alien origin.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the timeline for a release of documents, or what the release may contain.
Trump announced in February that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency officials to begin reviewing government files related to "alien and extraterrestrial life.”
The February announcement came days after former President Barack Obama's comments on a podcast that aliens were real. Shortly after his appearance, Obama clarified that he meant "the odds are good there's life out there" and that he hadn't actually seen evidence of alien life while in the White House.
Lawmakers have pressed for disclosure of government files on UAPs. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote a letter last month demanding that the Pentagon release 46 videos from its investigation into UAPs by April 14. After that deadline passed Tuesday, Luna, who chairs the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, said in an interview with NewsNation that she is considering using subpoena authority if the videos are not released.
"The continued lack of transparency surrounding these anomalies and the potential national security threat they pose is troubling," Luna wrote in her March letter. "The presence of UAPs in and around the sensitive airspaces of U.S. military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness."
The congresswoman posted a clip of Trump's remarks Friday on X, simply writing a winking emoji above the clip.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., has also urged the administration to release information on UFOs. Burchett reposted a clip of Trump's remarks Friday with the caption, "Thank you for keeping your word to me @realDonaldTrump."
The Pentagon said in November 2024 that it received hundreds of reports on UAPs following a 2024 hearing, including 21 that were worthy of "further analysis" due to "anomalous characteristics and/or behaviors." However, officials said they did not find evidence to substantiate life from another planet in any of the reports received.
Additionally, a Pentagon report from March 2024 found that there was no credible evidence that U.S. authorities covered up findings of UFOs or UAPs that revealed extraterrestrial life, writing that "most sightings were the result of misidentification of ordinary objects and phenomena."
