Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of revealing "classified" information about aliens during a recent interview. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump accused Barack Obama of revealing "classified" information about aliens during a recent interview. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of revealing “classified” information when he said last week that aliens are real.
Obama was being interviewed by Brian Tyler Cohen, a political podcaster, when the host asked him whether aliens existed.
“They’re real but I haven’t seen them and they’re not being keptin, what is it called, Area 51,” Obama said in a clip of the interview posted that has since been viewed millions of times.
“There’s no underground facility. Unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” he added.
Asked about Obama’s comments, Trump said the former President “gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that”.
Trump said he “didn’t have an opinion” on whether aliens exist.
Since the interview aired, Obama said in a post on Instagram that, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there”.
Barack Obama stated aliens are real but clarified he saw no evidence of contact during his presidency. Photo / Getty Images
He clarified that he “saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us”.
It’s not the first time Obama, who is known to be a fan of Star Trek’s Spock, has been asked about the existence of extraterrestrial life.
In 2012, Will Smith, the actor, told BBC Radio 1 that Obama had shown him and his family around the White House. When the group arrived in the situation room – where the President and senior military and intelligence staff convene during crises – his son Jaden asked about aliens.
“I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of extraterrestrials,” Smith recalled the then-President responding.
“But I can tell you, if there had been a top secret meeting, and if there would have had to be a discussion about it, it would have taken place in this room.”
When Leonard Nimoy, the actor who portrayed Spock, died in 2015, Obama issued a statement from the White House honouring the actor and his beloved TV character.
“Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the centre of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future,” he said.
“I loved Spock.”
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