Trump called for more alien files. UFO disclosure bill passed in 2023

• Donald Trump pledged to release government records on aliens and UFOs if reelected.
• Trump's promise followed his criticism of Barack Obama for discussing his belief in aliens.
• A 2023 law already requires the National Archives to collect and release documents on UAPs.

President Donald Trump said he would order agencies to release records on aliens and UFOs.

The Feb. 19 Truth Social post came after Trump criticized former President Barack Obama for saying on a podcast he thinks aliens exist despite having never seen them. The comments drew a lot of attention, and Obama later clarified his belief was based on statistics, but he never saw evidence during his presidency.

Trump criticized Obama for the comments and accused him of giving classified information, saying, "he's not supposed to be doing that." But then Trump posted on Truth Social that he would direct agencies to release government records on "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."

Trump's second term has been filled with splashy document disclosures, from classified documents on the murder of President John F. Kennedy to the release of millions of documents on the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Interest in life in outer space is nothing new, Congress has convened a few times to discuss the possibility of UFOs in the last few years. In fact, former President Joe Biden signed legislation to release some of it. Here is what to know:

Lawmakers passed UFO transparency measure in 2023

A provision in a 2023 bill passed and signed by Biden required the National Archives and Records Administration to establish a collection of government documents about UAPs. (The UAP term is a relatively new one that more broadly defines mysterious objects sighted in not just the sky, but also near or under the water.)

It was included in an annual defense policy bill, but didn't quite have the juice that some lawmakers had sought in order to demand greater transparency around reports of strange crafts whizzing through U.S. airspace and outmaneuvering the military. Plus, the executive branch has up to 25 years within a record's creation to make it public.

The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer from New York, who had hoped to establish a process that could ultimately reveal to the public what the government knows about the existence of any non-human intelligences on Earth. The legislation was co-sponsored by three Republican and two Democratic senators.

Under the law, the National Archives must also gather information about "technologies of unknown origin and nonhuman intelligence." While that sounded like a promising move toward transparency, the measure still empowers various government agencies to keep records classified.

If a president determines that the public release of certain records would pose a threat to U.S. intelligence operations and military defense, declassification could be postponed under language in the bill. However, the potential harm of releasing the records must outweigh the public interest of disclosure, according to the legislation.

When asked how Trump's directive would be different than what is laid out in the law, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump is more transparent than Biden, and "stay tuned!"

See UFO records National Archives has released

The National Archives began releasing some records in late April 2025 related to reports of UFOs.

You can see what has been made available here on the National Archives website.

UFO hearings at Congress since July 2023

Trump's call for more documents to be released came about five months after a slate of witnesses last testified under oath to Congress about strange flying craft they claim can outmaneuver U.S. military vehicles.

The four witnesses who testified Sept. 9, 2025, discussed their own first-hand experiences of seeing what they believed were UAP, as well as their knowledge of what the federal government may be unlawfully shielding from lawmakers about the phenomena.

The hearing was the third in as many years in the halls of Congress since fiery testimony in July 2023 reignited public fascination in UFOs – as well as the possibility that extraterrestrials are piloting them. Across the three hearings, several witnesses – including journalists and high-ranking military members – have testified about shadowy military programs to retrieve and study not only interstellar alien spacecraft, but the extraterrestrial pilots themselves.

The hearings have often spurred calls from advocates and lawmakers alike for transparency. Legislation is in the works that would compel the federal government to release more information about what has been uncovered.

Contributing: Zac Anderson

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her onX (Twitter),Bluesky andTikTok.