Trump Says Pilots Are Credible, but Offers No Evidence
In an interview with *60 Minutes*, Trump said a pilot had told him about a round object that flew past at three times the aircraft’s speed. He did not say when it happened.
President Trump told *60 Minutes* that Air Force pilots had described strange events in the sky, including a round object that flew past a fighter jet. He offered no evidence. The Pentagon has released up to 162 files on unidentified phenomena.
“They told me they were flying in objects…” President Donald Trump said, recounting what he had heard from Air Force pilots. He made the remarks in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat, published November 8, according to American and Indian news outlets.
Trump said he was not a “big believer” in UFOs. He said questions about unidentified aerial phenomena, the military’s term for them, were among the questions he was asked most often. During his first term and early in his second, he said, he met with pilots in the Oval Office. “These are serious, solid people. Not the kind you’d call conspiracy theorists.”
One pilot told him, Trump said, that he and his fellow pilots were flying F-22s when an object passed them at three times their speed. Trump described it as round. He did not say when the incident occurred or mention any reports or names.
The Order and the Files
Earlier this year, Trump signed an order directing the release of sensitive files on such phenomena. In response, the Pentagon launched a dedicated website featuring up to 162 files from the FBI, the Department of Defense, NASA, and the State Department. The files include testimony, photographs, and reports of unidentified-object sightings collected around the world over several decades.
A Secret Program That Was Never Found
The interviewer asked Trump about whistleblowers’ claims that a secret government program investigates sightings and that information about it had been withheld from presidents. Trump said he had not heard of the program and had no evidence it existed. “But if there is one, I’ll find out about it right after this interview.”
Trump concluded that the pilots were credible, but offered no documents or other evidence to support their accounts.
Questions & answers
Have Trump’s claims about the pilots been verified?
No. The claim comes from the president alone; no reports, names, or records of the incident he described have been presented.
What did the Pentagon release after Trump’s order?
Up to 162 files from the FBI, the Department of Defense, NASA, and the State Department, including witness testimony, photographs, and reports of sightings.