Amid discussions about aliens over the past week, President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that he will mandate the public release of government documents concerning extraterrestrial life.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters,” Trump stated on his social media platform Truth Social.

The excitement followed remarks by former President Barack Obama, who in what appeared to be a spontaneous answer to a “lightning round” question during an interview with progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen that was released Saturday, stated that aliens are “real.” Obama clarified at the time, however, that they are not being held in the highly classified military installation known as Area 51, and he dismissed speculation about any such subterranean government facilities existing anywhere, “unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.”

Area 51 is a classified Air Force installation in southern Nevada that has long attracted the attention of conspiracy theorists concerning extraterrestrial life and alleged government cover-ups. In 2013, the government confirmed the existence of Area 51 following the CIA , which revealed that the site served as a testing ground for spy planes, though the documents made no mention of aliens.

On Thursday, while on Air Force One, Trump was questioned by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy regarding Obama’s comment and whether Trump had seen any proof of nonhuman visitors to Earth. “Well, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump replied.

“So aliens are real?” Doocy followed up.

“Well I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump said, while reiterating his claim that Obama “made a big mistake.”

Doocy pointed out that the President has the authority to declassify any information he wishes, to which Trump responded with a smirk, “I may get him out of trouble if I declassify,” apparently still alluding to Obama.

Obama’s brief interview comment has demonstrated no indication of being based on classified information, and he addressed his interview remarks on social media Sunday. “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. 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!”

A , which examined U.S. government investigations into reported sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena since 1945, discovered no proof of extraterrestrial technology or alien life.

Critics, including , have suggested that Trump’s declassification order is intended to divert attention from the controversy surrounding the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “They’ve deployed the ultimate weapon of mass distraction,” Massie , “but the Epstein files aren’t going away… even for aliens.”