Sorry Trump! As the US President demands UFO files, NASA chief gives hilarious response that dashes hopes of an extraterrestrial breakthrough

NASA has given a hilarious response to President Donald Trump following his demand for UFO files – and it dashes hopes of an extraterrestrial breakthrough.

Earlier this month, the hunt for life beyond Earth took an unexpected twist when Barack Obama claimed aliens are real.

The former president later went on to clarify he was not talking about extraterrestrial forms visiting Earth, and that he believes life must instead exist somewhere in the 'vast cosmos'.

But his comments prompted Trump to lash out at his predecessor for allegedly sharing 'classified information'.

The President said he has directed his Secretary of War to release all government files related to aliens, extraterrestrial life and UFOs.

Now, NASA has finally responded to his demands – but it crushes any hope that a collection of spooky documents are about to be released.

'We continue to embrace President Trump's open science commitment as an agency,' NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens wrote on X.

But she added: 'As [NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman] has said, there are certainly things he's come across in the job that he can't explain… but they relate more to unnecessarily costly programs than they do to extraterrestrial life!'

The theatricals began earlier this month when Barack Obama was interviewed by American YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.

When he was directly asked 'Are aliens real?', he replied: 'They're real, but I haven't seen them.'

He also addressed longstanding speculation surrounding Area 51, the secretive US military facility in Nevada that has long been at the centre of extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.

'They're not being kept in Area 51,' Mr Obama said. 'There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.'

Shortly after the interview aired, President Trump said his predecessor was 'not supposed' to be sharing 'classified information'.

'I don't know if they're real or not,' he told Fox News reporter Peter Doocy aboard Air Force One. 'I can tell you he gave classified information. He made a big mistake.'

Hours later, he announced: 'Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War... 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).'

He added they aim to release 'any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.'

NASA's online statement also adds: 'We have fostered open science since our inception so that the public can build upon our innovations.

'We continue to make all NASA data publicly available, and welcome public participation using our data.'

However, their response was met with scepticism from some X users.

One wrote: 'I hate to tell you this…but the stuff that's probably been hidden for the last 100 years would have been hidden from you guys too.'

Another pointed out that 'Not all NASA data is publicly available'.

The release of a statement follows comments made by one of NASA's longest–serving and most decorated scientists at a conference held earlier this month.

Dr Gentry Lee, a veteran space engineer who has worked at NASA since 1968, said anyone who believes aliens have ever visited Earth has been seriously 'misled'.

Referring to persistent rumours and theories that alien beings or spacecraft have visited the Earth, Dr Lee said: 'There exists nothing today that says any alien or any alien machine has ever landed on the planet Earth. If you believe otherwise, you are being misled.'

He said that, in every case of a supposed UFO sighting or alien encounter, there is likely a simpler explanation for those phenomena.

Dr Lee also said that space scientists must be prepared to find alien life that is very different from the life found on Earth.

He said that all life on our planet – 'you, me, an elephant, slime mould, bacteria' – relies on DNA to reproduce.

He added: 'Extraterrestrial biologists would come to the Earth and would go back and report: 'Not a terribly interesting planet. All life is the same. All of it reproduces in the same way using the same major [DNA] molecule.'

His comments were made at the American Association for the Advancement for Science (AAAS) conference in Phoenix.