Former President Barack Obama clarified alien remarks, saying he saw no evidence of contact and rejecting claims extraterrestrials are kept at Area 51.
By Michael Sinkewicz , Greg Wehner Fox News
Published February 15, 2026 2:33am ESTUpdated
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Former President Barack Obama clarified Sunday that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrial contact during his presidency after joking about aliens in a podcast appearance that reignited online speculation.
During an appearance Saturday on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, the former commander in chief was asked directly if aliens were real.
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama answered.
The 44th president also said aliens were not being kept at the Nevada Air Force base known as Area 51.
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Former President Barack Obama joked on a podcast that aliens are real but said he has not seen them. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images;Netflix)
“There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy unless they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama continued.
But after his remarks drew attention, Obama issued a clarification.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify,” Obama said on Instagram. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
Obama noted that officials are seriously investigating aircraft that behave in seemingly unexplainable ways. (iStock)
Cohen then asked what Obama’s first question was after becoming president — and it again involved aliens.
“Uh, where are the aliens?” he joked.
Saturday’s interview was not the first time Obama talked about the possible existence of extraterrestrial life.
During a 2021 appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” Obama said that after taking office, he sought information on aliens and whether they were being studied in a secret lab. He was told the answer was “no.”
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Congress passed the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act in 2023 and the Department of War has also created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. (iStock)
But Obama did note that officials are seriously investigating aircraft that behave in seemingly unexplainable ways.
“There is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are,” he said. “We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. I think people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”
Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy later asked President Joe Biden about Obama’s comments, referring to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).
“What do you think that it is?”
Biden replied, “I would ask (Obama) again.”
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UAPs have gained attention in recent years, including from the federal government.
Congress passed the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act in 2023 and the Department of War has also created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
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