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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Daniel Lavelle

The release of the UFO files won’t satisfy conspiracy theorists – but it certainly serves Trump’s agenda

Some of the files on UFOs released on 8 May 2026.
Some of the files on UFOs released by the Trump administration on 8 May 2026. Photograph: Jon Elswick/AP

The US Department of Defense released the first batch of its UFO files last week at the direction of the president, Donald Trump, who promised to make them public “based on the tremendous interest shown”.

Trump’s right, of course. Nearly half of Americans believe aliens have visited Earth, and many believe that the government is hoarding the evidence in some shadowy laboratory or military base. This conspiracy began in 1947 at Roswell, New Mexico, when the Roswell army airfield issued a news release about the crash of a “flying disc”, and has never truly gone away.

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