Barack Obama addressed long-running speculation about extraterrestrial life during a recent podcast appearance, joking about aliens while dismissing the idea of a government cover-up.

Speaking on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, the 44th president was asked directly whether he believes aliens exist.

“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama answered.

He also rejected claims that extraterrestrials are being concealed at the Nevada military installation commonly known as Area 51.

“There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” Obama continued.

Cohen followed up by asking what question first came to Obama’s mind after he entered the Oval Office. Obama said even then, the topic of aliens came up — though in jest.

“Uh, where are the aliens?” he joked.

The interview marked another occasion in which Obama has publicly discussed the possibility of life beyond Earth.

In a 2021 appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” Obama recalled that shortly after becoming president, he inquired whether the government had secret information about extraterrestrials or was studying them in a hidden facility. According to Obama, he was informed that no such program existed.

At the same time, Obama acknowledged that U.S. officials have taken seriously reports of unusual aerial objects that defy easy explanation.

“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.”

Following Obama’s remarks, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy posed a question to President Joe Biden about unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP.

“What do you think that it is?”

Biden replied, “I would ask (Obama) again.”

Interest in UAPs has grown significantly in recent years, drawing increased scrutiny from lawmakers and federal agencies. In 2023, Congress approved the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act, and the Department of War established the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to examine reports of unexplained sightings across air, land, sea, and space domains.

{Matzav.com}