Politico Europe · Feb 16, 2026 · Collected from RSS
The former president's clarification comes a day after he said about extraterrestrials: "They're real, but I haven't seen them."
News Defense The former president’s clarification comes a day after he said about extraterrestrials: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.” Barack Obama wrote 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." | Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images February 16, 2026 11:28 am CET Former U.S. President Barack Obama said it’s likely that extraterrestrials exist — but added he had seen “no evidence” during his presidency that aliens had made contact with Earth. He issued the clarification on Instagram Sunday evening, after his comments on the existence of aliens on a podcast sparked speculation online that the former president was offering proof that they exist. During U.S. YouTube personality Brian Tyler Cohen’s “No Lie” show, the host asked Obama if aliens were real and he answered: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them. They are not being kept in … Area 51.” The highly classified U.S. Air Force facility Area 51 in Nevada has long been the subject of conspiracy theories involving extraterrestrial life. “There is no underground facility. Unless there is this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama added on the podcast. Asked what the first question he wanted answered when he became president, Obama replied sarcastically: “Where are the aliens?” After the comments sparked an uproar about alien life, Obama later wrote 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!” he added. In 2017, POLITICO reported that the U.S. government had set up a multimillion-dollar program to investigate unidentified flying objects. In 2020, the Pentagon released three short videos that show what appear to be UFOs. In 2025, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity detected organic molecules that scientists said could serve as potential chemical remnants of ancient life on the planet.