Officials and lawmakers push for more government transparency on UFOs
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00:00 The Congressional Committee held a rare hearing on Capitol Hill today on the subject of UFOs,
00:05 with members and witnesses alike pushing for more government transparency on this issue.
00:10 CNN's Tom Foreman has more on the story.
00:12 Forrest, give us the latest, Tom.
00:14 This really was quite a hearing, Wolf, with plenty there for conspiracy theorists, those
00:18 who believe there are other beings out there trying to contact us, and if you listen closely,
00:24 enough for skeptics, too.
00:26 There's a whole fleet of them, look on the ASA.
00:31 My gosh.
00:32 Oh, I got it!
00:35 Some things out there, we don't know what, and we ought to be concerned.
00:39 We were primarily seeing dark gray or black cubes inside of a clear sphere.
00:43 That was the message from all the witnesses about unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAPs.
00:49 Do you believe UAPs pose a potential threat to our national security?
00:53 Yes.
00:54 It's talking something that can go into space, go someplace, drop down in a matter of seconds,
00:59 do whatever it wants, and leave, and there's nothing we can do about it.
01:04 Nothing.
01:05 Backed with videos released by the government and their own first-hand observations of what
01:09 are more commonly called UFOs, the three retired military men, two former Navy pilots and a
01:15 former Air Force intelligence officer, described mysterious somethings, objects, lights, with
01:21 astonishing capabilities.
01:24 These objects were staying completely stationary in category four hurricane winds.
01:28 These same objects would then accelerate to supersonic speeds, 1.1, 1.2 Mach, and they
01:33 would do so in very erratic and quick behaviors that we don't, I don't have an explanation
01:38 for.
01:39 And when the witnesses started talking about what they claim they've been told, it went
01:43 even further, albeit with no proof in tow.
01:46 You said that the government has alien bodies or alien species.
01:50 I have to be careful to describe what I've seen first-hand and not in this environment.
01:55 And have you seen any of the bodies?
01:57 That's something I've not witnessed myself.
02:00 This is huge.
02:01 This is worldwide.
02:02 The whole spectacle was enough to have some committee members openly accusing the government
02:06 of a cover-up.
02:07 It is unacceptable to continue to gaslight Americans into thinking that this is not happening.
02:12 While others, like the witnesses, are calling for more open reporting procedures for anyone
02:17 who sees anything.
02:19 We can't be afraid of asking questions, and we can't be afraid of the truth.
02:24 If one thing came out of this was a commitment from several committee members to say, or
02:28 a push from them to say, yeah, the government needs to be more transparent about what we
02:32 do know and what we don't know.
02:35 What we did not get in all of this, though, is any real proof.
02:40 What are these people seeing?
02:42 And is it something that is more science or more fiction?
02:46 Wolf.
02:47 Tom Foreman, thank you very much.
02:49 Two people who heard that UFO testimony today, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna
02:54 and Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz, both of Florida.
02:58 Thank you both for joining me today.
03:00 Congresswoman Luna, while two of the three witnesses claim they've seen unidentified
03:04 objects in the past, a lot of what was said today was based on what other witnesses had
03:09 told them.
03:10 So why should you or the public believe what they said?
03:14 Well, I want to start by saying that this really all started as a series of events.
03:19 Initially myself, Representative Burchett, and Representative Gates were actually denied
03:24 access to information at Eglin Air Force Base in a follow-up of whistleblower testimony
03:29 to Representative Gates's office.
03:31 And upon pushback, I actually saw with my own two eyes evidence of UAPs at Eglin Air
03:37 Force Base.
03:38 But also, too, it's important to note that both Grush as well as the other witnesses
03:42 were not only extensively vetted, but also some of the most, I'd say, viral videos that
03:49 have come out, the gimbal and the Tic Tac video, were actually filmed by two of those
03:54 three witnesses.
03:55 And then referencing Grush, we actually requested a SCIF so that we could hear that privileged
04:01 information.
04:02 And we were denied access to that.
04:04 And I think that Representative Moskowitz is going to be penning a letter to ensure
04:07 that we get access to that SCIF for that briefing.
04:09 Well, to that point, Congressman Moskowitz, no government officials testified at the hearing
04:14 today and one of the witnesses alleges that the government is covering up its research
04:19 on UFOs.
04:21 Do you believe that to be the case?
04:23 I do.
04:24 And it's not that they didn't testify because they weren't invited.
04:27 No one wanted to participate.
04:29 That hand was extended to multiple agencies and they refused to participate.
04:33 And so, listen, there's no doubt that we're fighting for greater transparency here.
04:37 I mean, that's what this is about.
04:38 I mean, you have these pilots who are decorated veterans who have interacted with things that
04:43 they can't explain that are beyond the technology that they were flying, where you're talking
04:48 about speeds that the human body would not be able to sustain, G-forces that they would
04:54 not be able to sustain.
04:55 And so, when you hear that, you hear that from reliable witnesses under oath in Congress,
05:01 that matters.
05:02 And so when you hear from Grush that, obviously, in his previous job, he worked with people
05:07 who have worked with these UAPs and that there are weapons programs that are unsanctioned
05:12 off the books, that's the point of congressional oversight.
05:15 The point is for us to ask those questions, to pull that thread.
05:18 And if we have to get into a classified setting to do it, so be it.
05:21 But this is really about disclosure.
05:23 We understand there's national security implications.
05:25 No one's trying to jeopardize that.
05:27 But that can't be a shield that the American people don't get to learn the basics.
05:31 So Congressman Moskowitz, sticking with you, what are some of the bipartisan efforts that
05:34 you're working on to be more, to have the government be more transparent on this issue?
05:40 Well, number one, first of all, we've got to protect our whistleblowers on this.
05:43 So there could be whistleblower legislation that comes out to protect them.
05:47 I think, obviously, talking about getting Grush into a SCIF so that we can hear the
05:51 classified information, getting the document he submitted to the inspector general, he
05:55 referenced that several times today.
05:57 I mean, there's some talk on Capitol Hill about maybe doing a select committee.
06:00 Obviously, that would be up to the Speaker of the House to do that with subpoena power.
06:05 And we can start subpoenaing people.
06:06 I mean, so these are some of the things that are currently being discussed.
06:11 Obviously, we just came out of that hearing.
06:14 Members are already starting to talk about the next steps.
06:16 And that's what's important here.
06:17 What's important is that this is not just a one-day hearing, that we have follow-up.
06:21 And I think you hear from, you know, Congresswoman Luna and others that this is a bipartisan,
06:27 bicameral, nonpartisan sort of stuff that's happening on Capitol Hill, which, by the way,
06:32 is somewhat unique.
06:34 And that's why I think you're going to see it move faster than some other issues.
06:37 Yeah, it is notable to hear that some of these witnesses were just nervous about testifying
06:41 for fear of a stigma being attached to them from what they saw or what they heard.