E-Paper
First GOP Debate: Is the truth out there? Chris Christie asked whether he would be honest about UFOs
Christie wondered if he was being targetted for being from New Jersey.
Republican debates are often fraught with questions about aliens, but a moment of hilarity ensured at the first GOP debate when Chris Christie was asked about UFOs. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was asked if he would “level” with the American people about what was known about what was “out there.” Christie took mock offense, saying he’d been asked that because he was from New Jersey and that his home state is “different but not that different.”
Joking with moderator Martha MacCallum, he wondered if she asked the question because they are both from New Jersey. He said: “Especially coming from a woman from New Jersey, I think it's horrible that just because I’m from New Jersey, you asked me about unidentified flying objects and Martians. We're different but we're not that different."
Refusing to take the bait further, Christie said, that it was the POTUS’ job to he honest, whether it was about UFOs ore education. He said: “The job of the president of the United States is to level with the American people about everything. The job of the president of the United States is to stand for truth.”
Recently, a whistle-blower claimed that the U.S. is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects, a former Air Force intelligence officer testified Wednesday to Congress. The Pentagon has denied his claims.
Retired Maj. David Grusch's highly anticipated testimony before a House Oversight subcommittee was Congress' latest foray into the world of UAPs — or “unidentified aerial phenomena," which is the official term the U.S. government uses instead of UFOs. While the study of mysterious aircraft or objects often evokes talk of aliens and “little green men,” Democrats and Republicans in recent years have pushed for more research as a national security matter due to concerns that sightings observed by pilots may be tied to U.S. adversaries.
Grusch said he was asked in 2019 by the head of a government task force on UAPs to identify all highly classified programs relating to the task force's mission. At the time, Grusch was detailed to the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates U.S. spy satellites.
“I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to which I was denied access,” he said.
Asked whether the U.S. government had information about extraterrestrial life, Grusch said the U.S. likely has been aware of “non-human” activity since the 1930s.
