President Donald Trump made his most specific public statement yet on UAP file releases at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona on 18 April, telling the audience that “many very interesting documents” had been found and that “the first releases will begin very, very soon.”
“As you remember, I recently directed the Secretary of War and other relevant departments and agencies to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomenon,” Trump said. “This process is well underway, and we found many very interesting documents, I must say, and the first releases will begin very, very soon.”
The timeline so far
Trump’s Phoenix statement follows a sequence that began on 20 February 2026, when the president signed a directive ordering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency heads to identify and release government records related to “alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, and UFOs.” That order established a 300-day countdown for agencies to produce declassified records or provide reviewable justifications for continued classification.
Hegseth has since confirmed that AARO’s caseload now exceeds 2,000 reports dating back to 1945. A defence department official told Liberation Times in April that the Pentagon’s UAP office was “working with the White House and across agencies to facilitate the expeditious release of never-before-seen UAP information.”
What could be released
CBS News surveyed scientists on what the files might contain. Possibilities range from raw sensor data and military encounter reports to internal assessments of UAP propulsion characteristics. The most politically significant material would be anything confirming that the U.S. government has known more about UAP than it has publicly acknowledged, particularly regarding the “Immaculate Constellation” programme alleged by whistleblowers to be a classified repository of UAP imagery and intelligence.
Scepticism and caution
Transparency advocates have greeted Trump’s statements with cautious optimism. A CNN analysis from March 2026 noted that even with presidential backing, “the path from protected file to public record is often obscured by layers of bureaucracy,” and warned the process could result in heavily redacted documents, or none at all.
The Pentagon’s failure to meet Representative Luna’s 14 April deadline for 46 specific UAP video files has underscored the gap between executive rhetoric and institutional action. Whether Trump’s “very, very soon” translates into actual document releases in the coming weeks will be the definitive test of this administration’s commitment to UAP transparency.