President Donald Trump said Friday that he has directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to begin releasing the government's files on UFOs and unidentified aerial phenomena. 

Trump promised in February to order the release of the files after he criticized former President Barack Obama for divulging "classified information" when he said he believes aliens are real.

The president still did not give a clear indication of when the documents would be released, but said federal agencies are in the process of reviewing documents and will be releasing information "very, very soon." 

“We found many very interesting documents, I must say," Trump said at a Turning Point USA rally. "The first releases will begin very, very soon. So you can go out and see if that phenomena is correct.” 

Trump has maintained that he does not "know" if aliens or UFOs are real, but Obama said that if the U.S. government is aware of extraterrestrial beings on Earth then they hid it from him during his presidency.

The topic also comes after a Pentagon report in 2024 revealed an increase in sightings but no evidence of space aliens.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.