President Donald Trump on Thursday accused former President Barack Obama of improperly revealing classified information while discussing extraterrestrial life, saying the former two-term Democrat made a "big mistake."
The exchange came after a White House correspondent pressed Trump aboard Air Force One about Obama's weekend comments on aliens and asked whether the president has seen any evidence of non-human visitors on Earth.
"Well, he gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that," Trump responded.
When asked to elaborate, Trump doubled down.
"I don't know if they're real or not," he said. "I can tell you he gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information."
Trump added that he does not personally weigh in on the issue.
"I never talk about it. A lot of people do," the president said, adding, "I may get him out of trouble by declassifying."
The question arose after Obama was asked about aliens during a Saturday interview on the "No Lie" podcast.
"They're real, but I haven't seen them," Obama said, before adding they are not being held at Area 51. "There's no underground facility, unless there's this enormous conspiracy, and they hid it from the president of the United States," he added.
Obama later clarified his remarks in a social media post.
"I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there," Obama wrote on Instagram.
"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.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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