Donald Trump on Sunday said he is going to 'take a good, strong look' at the possibility of UFOs.
The president, appearing on Fox News on Maria Bartiromo's show, was asked about reports that the defense department has formed a new body to investigate what it calls unidentified aerial phenomena, and to monitor reported sightings of UFOs.
Asked whether there were UFOs, Trump replied: 'I'm going to have to check on that.'
He continued: 'I mean, I have heard that. I heard that two days ago. So, I will check on that.
'I will take a good, strong look at that.
'But I will tell you this. We now have created a military the likes of which we have never had before, in terms of equipment, the equipment that we have, the weapons that we have.'
Donald Trump on Sunday said he would 'take a strong look' at the possibility of UFOs
The president spoke by phone to Maria Bartiromo on Fox News on Sunday
A video made by a fighter pilot in 2004 was leaked in 2017 and declassified earlier this year
Last month a former US Navy pilot spoke about his infamous alleged UFO sighting off the coast of California in 2004.
Commander David Fravor said he witnessed a Tic Tac-shaped object in the sky in November 10, 2004 performing extraordinary aerial maneuvers that he said no modern human technology was capable of.
'This is not like we saw it and it was gone or I saw lights in the sky and it's gone – we watched this thing on a crystal clear day with four trained observers,' Fravor said in a sit-down interview with Russian-American YouTuber and MIT researcher Lex Fridman on September 8.
He said the phenomena committed an 'act of war' by jamming the military's radar when they tried to trace it.
When asked if he believes that Tic Tac shape could've been from another planet, Fravor said it could be possible.
'I don't like to get into little green men but I don't think we've developed it ... I think you can hide things for a while. This is a giant leap in technology,' he said.
Former US Navy pilot Commander David Fravor along with three others reported a potential UFO sighting off the coast of California in 2004. He said on the sighting: 'I don't like to get into little green men but I don't think we've developed it ... I think you can hide things for a while. This is a giant leap in technology'
Reported UFO sightings have shot up amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The National UFO Reporting Center is being alerted to about 51 per cent more strange encounters so far this year compared to the same period in 2019.
The nonprofit has 5,000 incidents recorded for 2020 with 20 per cent being reported in April, at the height of lockdown across the country and the same month the Navy released three archival UFO videos.
Peter Davenport last month told the Wall Street Journal that he has been taking 25 to 50 calls a day at his home in Harrington, Washington as people describe unidentified flying objects.
'It's a herculean task,' Davenport, 72, told the WSJ. 'It's literally taken over my life.'
Davenport said it has gotten so popular that he's hand to turn off his phone ringer at night just to get some sleep.
According to a January poll by research firm Ipsos, 57 per cent of Americans think there's intelligent life on other planets.
The survey found that 45 per cent of the country believes UFOs have visited Earth.
Images from the strange 2004 sighting were leaked in 2017
It is not the first time the president has given been asked about the possibility of UFOs.
In June he was interviewed by his son, Donald Trump Jr, to mark Fathers' Day, and was asked directly.
The pair discuss Roswell, the New Mexico city known for its proximity to arguably most famous UFO event.
'Before you leave office, will you let us know if there are aliens?' Don Jr said.
'Because this is the only thing I really want to know. Would you ever open up Roswell and let us know what's really going on.'
Trump responded: 'I won't talk to you about what I know about it, but it's very interesting.'
Don Jr asked his father if he would reveal what he had been told about alien life
Law enforcement stand near barb wire as people gathered to "storm" Area 51 in September
Area 51 near Roswell, New Mexico, has long been a source of fascination for UFO watchers
In 1947, a rancher discovered unidentifiable debris in his sheep pasture outside Roswell.
Air Force officials said it was a crashed weather balloon, but skeptics questioned whether it was in fact at extraterrestrial flying saucer.
Decades later the U.S. military acknowledged the debris was related to a top-secret atomic project.
Still, the UFO theory has flourished.
The president in the past has spoken skeptically about the possibility that there is something out there.
Last year Trump said he received a short briefing on UFO sighting, but also offered: 'People are saying they're seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.'
After his father offered that he heard some 'interesting' things about Roswell, Trump Jr. asked the president might declassify that information someday.
'Well, I'll have to think about that one,' the president responded.