OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:29 AM – Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Former Democrat President Barack Obama said that while he believes “aliens” are real, he saw no evidence during his time in office that they “have made contact with us,” according to remarks he made on a podcast over the weekend.
During a lightning round on Sunday’s episode of “No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen,” podcast host Brian Cohen posed the age-old question directly, asking, “Are aliens real?”
“They’re real,” the former president answered without hesitation, “but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in … what is it? Area 51.”
“There’s no underground facility — unless there’s an enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama added, while taking a sip from his mug.
Cohen followed up, asking, “What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?”
Obama jokingly replied, “Where are the aliens?”
On Sunday night, after the former president’s comments went viral online, Obama, 64, made an additional statement on Instagram to clear up any confusion or “sensationalization,” emphasizing that he was only “trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round.”
“Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” he continued. “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!”
Area 51, a highly classified Cold War–era testing facility in the Nevada desert, has long been a magnet for conspiracy theories — particularly among science fiction enthusiasts and those who claim to have witnessed UFOs (unidentified flying objects) firsthand.
Since its establishment in 1955 for the U-2 spy plane program, the highly classified facility at Groom Lake— popularly known as Area 51 — has served as the premier testing ground for the U.S. military’s most advanced “black project” aircraft, including the Mach 3 A-12 Oxcart and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter.
While the site is part of the sprawling 4,500-square-mile Nevada Test and Training Range, the specific restricted area surrounding the base, often called the “Groom Box,” encompasses nearly 600 square miles of desert.
In 2013, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the CIA officially acknowledged the base’s existence for the first time by declassifying a 1992 history of the U-2 program. While the agency confirmed that the secret test flights were responsible for many “UFO sightings” in the 1950s and ’60s, it maintained its decades-long silence regarding any extraterrestrial contact, focusing instead on the site’s earthly role in pioneering aerial reconnaissance and stealth technology.
Additionally, Luis Elizondo, a former Department of Defense (now Department of War) official who previously led the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), testified under oath that “UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) are real” and involve advanced technologies not created by the U.S. or any other foreign power.
During his high-profile testimony before the House Oversight Committee in November 2024, Elizondo alleged that these objects actively monitor sensitive military sites and that the government is engaged in a secretive, multi-decade “arms race” to reverse-engineer recovered non-human technology.
His claims, which include the governemnt’s alleged possession of non-human biological remains, have been echoed by Retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, who has urged the Navy to be more transparent about “transmedium” UAP that move between the air and the ocean.
However, it is important to note that while these former insiders are leading the charge for disclosure, their statements are not official government positions. To date, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — the government’s formal investigative body — claims that there is no verifiable evidence to substantiate claims of extraterrestrial technology or secret retrieval programs.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news alerts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!
Sponsored Content Below
Be the first to comment