US President Donald Trump has relayed accounts from Air Force pilots who told him they encountered unexplained objects in the sky. He also said he remains sceptical and has seen nothing to suggest a hidden government programme studying such phenomena.
What Donald Trump said
Trump made the remarks in an interview with correspondent Ross Douthat that aired Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes. He said he was not much of a believer. He described the pilots as credible and said he took their accounts seriously. In some cases, he said, they told him something was going on out there.
Trump said he met such pilots in the Oval Office during his first term and part of his second. In the account he gave, F-22 pilots saw a round object pass them at three times their speed. He noted the shape was not aerodynamic and suggested it might be a comet.
Secret programme: 'I'll find out'
Asked whether a hidden programme to study such phenomena exists, even one unknown to presidents, Trump said he had not heard of any. If one existed, he said, he would look into it right after the interview.
Details remain unverified
Trump did not identify the pilots or give a date or location for the encounter. He had described a similar sighting in an October 15 Newsmax interview, in which an object travelled at four times an F-22's speed. It is unclear whether the two accounts refer to the same event.
Scientific scrutiny of the comet suggestion
SCMP's analysis says the comet idea does not hold up. According to the US Air Force website, the F-22's twin F119 turbofan engines need atmospheric oxygen, which puts its operating ceiling at around 20 km (65,600 feet). Comets travel through deep space. When Comet Neowise passed in 2020, its closest approach was still over 100 million km away, per the European Space Agency. At such distances a comet appears nearly still to an observer, SCMP noted.
Administration's disclosure push
Trump's remarks come amid what SCMP calls an unprecedented drive for official disclosure. In February he directed federal agencies to review and declassify records on UFOs and possible extraterrestrial life. The Pentagon launched a dedicated website in May and has made rolling releases since. The material includes cockpit camera footage, sensor data, pilot interview transcripts, witness testimony and inter-agency reports. The seventh batch came on October 23, with dozens of historical files and modern incident summaries covering radar tracks and encounters military analysts say they still cannot explain.
Critics see a distraction
The initiative has drawn political criticism. Some opponents say the focus on extraterrestrial questions diverts attention from domestic problems. In May, former Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested it was meant to draw attention away from high petrol prices, overseas conflicts and the promised release of Jeffrey Epstein-related information. The administration has presented the releases as a push for transparency, and the Pentagon has praised that push.
