Ross Coulthart Q&A: Can the new Nazca mummy video be trusted? | Reality Check

Transcript

Well, good day and welcome to 2026, the first reality check Q&A for 2026, a year that I suspect is going to be a very momentous year in UAPology. And here to help me through the interrogation, my dear friend and colleague, Megan Medic. Good day, Megan. Happy New Year. >> Ross, happy new year to you as well.

Was it a good one? >> It was terrific. It was really lovely. I I know you guys are sort of suffering in the cold up there at the moment, but down here in Australia, we have heat waves and imminent bushfires. So, uh I I don't know what I would prefer, but frankly, at the moment, a lot of us here in Australia are praying for snow. >> Well, you look tan and great, so that's a good start to a new year.

Ross, >> thank you. Thank you. I'd rather be pale and a little bit chillier, frankly. >> All right. Well, we'll get to the news of the day.

I first want to start by asking you about this breaking news. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He is telling Congress that the US does intend to buy Greenland. What are your thoughts on that? >> Well, I guess the most important thing there, Megan, is acquisition. They're implying they're willing to buy it.

But is Denmark interested in selling? I somehow suspect they're not. There's a very strong feeling in Denmark, as we know from the interview we did a few months ago on Reality Check, that Greenland is Denmark's. But as we were told at the time, there is a history where America has expressed interest as [clears throat] far back as the 19th century in acquiring Greenland because it's such strategic importance to America. And I can understand the strategic importance for the American Defense Department because in the event dreadful thought this but in the event of nuclear war the Russian missiles ICBMs would fly straight over Greenland. So in the event that you need to intercept those missiles this is why Greenland is so strategically important.

Um it's where you would want your first line of interceptors. But of course, as we know, the real story about Greenland is UAPs. It's all about UFOs. And as you would know from a reality check some months back, we told the story with our Denmark correspondents about the fact that there's been frequent sightings of anomalous phenomena in and around parts of Greenland where there are, interestingly enough, large deposits of rare earth minerals. Maybe the aliens are as interested in what minerals and resources Greenland has as much as the Americans because the other thing that's of strategic importance to America are the rare earth minerals in Greenland.

And I do think it's important to note the uh alleged nonhumans have been taking an interest in that area as well. We're all watching on somewhat a scance here from Australia. Megan, as you know, we love and respect and admire America, but boy, the Bellose statements coming from Washington at the moment are a little concerning. Um, I I guess we hope that we here in Australia are still your friends and there's no prospect of an American invasion. [laughter] >> Absolutely.

Well, um, the the biggest question I got while we were on break, Ross, from our viewers on X was about the video allegedly debunking the NASCA mummies. This, we were both tagged in this post that the video debunking the mummies is trending and has even made it to the official news section on X. Obviously, there is an appetite for the truth. Ross, you were just there. What do you think of this video? >> I look, I think it's important.

It raises I've actually been in touch with the gentleman who made it, Will, and uh I'm hoping to at some stage talk to him and I'd like to include what he says in any analysis that we do on NewsNation about the tridactyls. We've filmed in Peru and we've spoken directly with the doctors there. As I said in a a social media commentary that was posted before I left Peru, it's just too early yet for me to make any kind of definitive statement about what I think about these objects. I'm very careful not to even say beings. Um, I certainly got the impression from the CT tomography scans that they seemed like intact beings of some kind.

But frankly, I'm not an anatomist. I'm not an anthropologist or anyone with any kind of experience in a scientific analysis of these beings. And I think we'll have to go with what good science says. And all the way through in this, what the scientists in Peru have told me and what the scientists in America and indeed in Mexico have told me is they want independent review. They want independent assessment.

And I guess what I'm a little worried about is the partisan way. The way that on UFO, UAP, Twitter, social media, people take their positions and adopt in a definitive position once and for all this is a hoax or this is real. Frankly, I just don't think we know enough right now. I don't think you can base a final conclusion on an analysis of a couple of bones in one alleged being's uh scans. Uh, I've heard arguments two and four.

What I think will be definitive, and I'm aware that there is a DNA analysis underway at the moment, uh, I don't know the name of the institution in the United States that's doing it, but there is some kind of DNA analysis underway which will hopefully provide us with more answers as to the genetic origins of whatever these objects are. Um, and that should be coming out sometime this year, hopefully fairly early. uh up until then uh yes I do think that we should acknowledge that there's been some great work done to raise I think serious questions about the legitimacy or the authenticity of the beings or the objects but um let's keep an open mind and let's reward and applaud good science where it's done um this isn't like some kind of um wrestling but you know there's there's not a winner or a loser science is an iterative process where people basically do an analysis and make an assessment. Let's make those assessments, do the independent work, make sure that independent scientists with rigor get peer reviewed and checked and assessed and then we can come up with a judgment. I think the real tragedy would be if these are potentially if they are significantly important objects that have basically been procured as part of Peru's natural uh cultural significant history.

It would be really tragic if because of a um sweeping assertion that these are a hoax that the entire thing is not taken seriously. Um I'm not so sure I can dismiss it out of hand just because of this latest debunk, but I'm very very happy to let independent rigorous science do the do the guesswork and do the analysis. Okay, another headline that I saw Ross's was posted by Americans for Space Safe Aerospace. They're saying New Jersey is poised to establish the nation's first statef funded UAP research center. What are your thoughts there? >> It's really important.

It's fantastic that New Jersey is doing this and I can tell you it reflects the degree of frustration inside local government in New Jersey that they've never got answers from the federal government that are satisfying them that they know the story, that they know the truth of what was happening and is still happening over New Jersey. I've been in touch with people as recently as yesterday telling me that they've been seeing anomalous objects over New Jersey, including supposed aircraft that somehow morphed in shape or in some cases, how do how does one describe this? They're basically moving so slowly. If they really were aircraft, they would fall out of the sky. But yes, they look like drones. They have the lights that look like drones, but they present no sound at all.

When they're looked up close up by people, there's no visible means of propulsion. The mystery continues, and I think it's incredibly important that the New Jersey government has basically made this unilateral decision to essentially stick the finger to the feds and say, "We don't trust you guys." That's that's what I take from this. We don't trust you guys. We think we need to do our own independent analysis because we're not getting straight answers from the respective authorities that are meant to be doing the work on this. And I think this is the beginning of [snorts] a change we're going to see across America.

I'm talking to people in Florida who are telling me they're still seeing objects, anomalous objects moving incredibly slowly that look like aircraft, which aren't. One person contacted me recently and told me they'd literally seen what looked like a drone morph into what looked like a 3/4 size 737 and then it drifted off across the horizon. Uh I just think there's something anomalous happening in our skies and I think that there are government agencies, the FBI frankly, good heavens, it's doing some fantastic work. There's a lot of work happening behind the scenes right now that isn't being acknowledged publicly. It's being driven largely out of the office of the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the FBI under Cash Patel.

And it's good news for people who are interested in getting to the truth on UAPs. I can't talk about it a lot because I have spoken to people from the FBI and they're wanting to keep their investigations fairly tight, but there are some really hard questions being asked about what the public has been told and what government agencies have been saying. And I think that what's happening in New Jersey is a reflection of the frustration in local government that they haven't been getting correct straight answers from the feds. >> Right. All right, we have a question from one of our YouTube viewers.

This is Jan. Happy New Year. We really need to know whether Mitch McConnell is the main gatekeeper according to Liberation Times latest article and his main staffer to UAP disclosure. Greetings from Germany. Uh well, Mitch McConnell, for those of you who don't know, is a very powerful person in the Congress.

And there's been allegations raised by my good friend and colleague Chris Sharp on Liberation Times who is generally very well informed that Mitch McConnell and his particularly his chief of staff Terry Carmarmac were involved in blocking the UAP amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act reforms that were proposed to be brought through in December. As many of you may recall, there's long been a push for UAP disclosure laws that would create a UAP records review act. I think it was intended to be a nine member review panel that would slowly declassify all UAP records that could be legitimately declassified within national security constraints. There was also going to be increased protections for whistleblowers, which is what uh Eric Berles, Representative Eric Berles and other Congress people have pushed for. David Grush, I know, has been instrumental in Berles's office in pushing for these reforms.

And yes, I've heard the same thing that that Mitch McConnell was among those as Senate Majority Leader who effectively blocked these UAP reforms from going through. Why did he do this? Well, one explanation that's been given to me is that Terry Carmarmac is a very deeply religious person, and good on him for his religious beliefs. But should his religious beliefs be intruding on the public's right to know about where their money is being spent? I don't think it should. There is allegations that there is a bunch of evangelical Christians, God bless them, who hold the view that anything relating to UAPs is demonic and should not be further investigated or discussed. that to touch on this area is to embrace evil and demonic things.

I don't agree with that. I was incredulous when I was first told this by people inside the Pentagon. But I do believe it is the case. There is a um uh a section of people inside the Pentagon, the intelligence community, and it would appear also in Congress who take the view that we're not entitled to know the truth about UAPs because to do so would intrude on their religious beliefs. I'm very sorry, but last time I checked, Congress was for for the people for all the people, not just people of evangelical Christian beliefs.

And if it is the case that Mitch McConnell and his staffer Terry Carmarmac are responsible for blocking these UAP laws as has been alleged, then shame on them. I am aware of blocks and objections from other members of Congress, Senate members. I I think frankly there are some in the Senate who are saying they are pro- disclosure, but I think frankly it's time to turn the blowtorrch on them because I don't think they're delivering. Uh, I think that what we're seeing at the moment is a lot of mumbo jumbo from people in the Congress who I suspect have been briefed into aspects of the legacy program and who have taken the view that it is better not to disclose. I'm increasingly coming to the view that there has been a retroactive attempt by the Pentagon and the intelligence community to selectively brief manipulable members of the gang of eight in Congress.

Those are the people in Congress who uh briefed into the most sensitive secrets in the defense and intelligence world. And I suspect that those people, Mitch McConnell among them, have taken the view that uh you don't have a right to know. And frankly, that's not going to change. I don't think we're ever going to see any kind of meaningful disclosure from government unless the public motivates itself to tell their Congress people and their senators what they think about that position. At the moment, I think we're stuck in the morass.

But frankly, I don't think it's going to make a jot of difference because the story will still out. All right, Elsie Fiorini, another commenter on YouTube. Happy New Year. I just wanted to ask Ros if he's aware or not of the trips to Brazil James Fox has been doing for the Farenha case. If he knew that before, maybe I could have tried to search for him at least to take a selfie and ask a couple of questions because I'm Brazilian and live in Sa Paulo where most of the international flights arrive here.

>> Well, yes, we have been in touch, frequent touch with James Fox. In fact, I was communicating with with him earlier on this morning. Um, uh, I don't want to give away too much, but yes, there are plans for a press conference in Washington DC on or around January the 20th this year, where witnesses from the Brazilian Vajinhar incident will be giving their evidence publicly. And I'm hoping that that might include the opportunity for the them to give their testimony under oath before some kind of congressional oversight committee hearing. Uh I'm still waiting to hear from James and other people what's happening, but you can be assured we will be covering it like a dog on a bone.

I actually think that what James has uncovered in Vajinhar, Brazil, the story of an alleged crash and retrieval of an alien spacecraft and alien beings, nonhuman entities. I think it's one of the most momentous stories in UAP investigations right now, and I think it has the potential to blow this whole story wide open. So yes, we will be covering it on NewsNation. I'm in touch with James. Watch this space.

>> Very exciting. Okay, Paul in the UK on X. Hi Megan and Ross. Happy New Year. Regarding Catalina Island USOS, could there be a correlation with dumping of toxic waste in San Pedro Channel 1930s to 70s, chemical reactions, toxic fumes, etc.

could be linked to some sightings? Maybe. >> You know, it's it's funny. I actually read about the dumping of this toxic waste when I read the biography of RFK Jr. Um, and I had no idea that there was this level of dumping of extraordinarily disgustingly toxic toxic things like DDT uh and other toxins, prochemicals, refinery wastes. And I actually have a note on it.

I uh there was 25 to over 25,000 to over 500,000 barrels of mainly DDT which is a dangerous cancerous pesticide dumped directly into the ocean in the sand San Pedro channel not too far at all from Catalina Island for over 20 to 30 years. um companies and let's name and shame them because one of them of course um uh is uh uh linked to Monsanto which is also allegedly involved in the um uh ongoing UAP coverup. There were companies like Montrose Chemical Corporation that dumped 40,000 pounds of pure DDT annually into the San Pedro Channel. And radioactive waste was dumped from 1946 to 1970. Now, I know countries including Australia have dumped things like chemical weapons into the ocean for years and years.

But I I did actually when I was writing my book look at this issue. Is there a possible link between the extraordinary number of UAP sightings in and around Catalina Island, just notably off the coast of LA, and the fact that that was for 30 or 40 years a toxic waste dump. It's interesting because um I wonder what else was dumped down there. um uh has when we talk about radioactive waste, what kind of radioactivity was dumped down there? There never really has been any kind of proper accounting for the extent or detail of what was dumped in San Pedro Channel. Now, obviously, it's all speculative.

As you would have seen on our USO, our unidentified submerged objects special that we did on NewsNation late last year. There are huge numbers of anomalous objects that are seen off Catalina Island, off Los Angeles, California, in a region of uh ocean where the US Navy has also had extraordinary anomalous sightings of objects. Is there a connection? Well, it would be totally speculative on my part because we don't know if there is a non-human intelligence down there. We don't know what their intentions are. But I would find it entirely plausible that if you're an alien species that is not so much worried about humanity, but perhaps worried about our planet, maybe it's this planet that is the jewel in need of protection.

Is there a link between toxic waste dumps and UFO sightings? One thing I can add to this is there are chemical weapons that were dumped off the coast of Australia and I've taken an interest as a journalist in the location of those dumps which I'm not meant to know. And yes, there is a link between chemical weapons that have been dumped off the coast of Sydney and off the coast of Queensland and a frequency of anomalous sightings. Maybe there is a connection. We just don't know. But I was amazed when I actually started looking at this the fact that there are extraordinary numbers, huge numbers of I think the highest figure I think is half a million barrels of pure DDT that have been dumped over over over the edge into one of the deepest channels just off the coast of California.

And frankly, we humans should be worried about it, let alone any potential aliens. uh whether there is a connection or not, it would be entirely speculative. Um there's no there's no sort of known correlatory data that shows there is a link other than the fact that yes, there is a frequency of anomalous objects off that particular piece of coast. But there are dump sites all around America and I don't think anybody's done the work to see whether there is a correlation. Maybe there is.

I just don't know. It's a good question to ask and one that I think should be further investigated. >> Okay, we will go to a question. This is film dafted on X. What happened to all the rather scary news from Peru with mantis looking face peelers and miners wearing jetpack terrorizing the local population? Did it stop? Also, what do you know about Antarctica and UAPs? >> Oh, wow.

Two huge questions. Firstly, the face peelers. I think the chuba chubbers. What an amazing story that was. Uh, as you may recall, we've previously had my good friend, Brazilian physicist and investigator Ronnie Veret, uh, who, uh, came on the show and talked about his investigations in Peru and Brazil into these extraordinary allegations from remote indigenous villages, describing what appeared to be nonhuman, in fact, mantislike beings who were um, loping around their town.

And uh in some cases there were also other beings which were not quite so friendly. 7-ft tall humanoid figures with armored bodies, large helmets, glowing yellow eyes, and some kind of platform device that allowed them the ability to float over the village. Some of this was actually filmed on on very poor quality mobile phone cameras. Now I can hear people scoffing and saying this is just local suspicion and local villages going nuts. But there were videos obtained and frankly the number of eyewitnesses who were prepared to testify about what they saw were extraordinary.

And I do recall there was a 15year-old girl who had the most harrowing account which I think she told best to a colleague of ours called Tim Alberino who I actually would like to get on the show at some stage. Tim had lived in Peru for some time and he went to one of these remote communities and interviewed this young girl who had literally been, I think, standing in the backyard of her home that was on a bit of a slope. And the way she described it from memory, there was some kind of frightening being, clearly not human, came up on a levitating platform and tried to grab her in the process cutting her neck. A really scary description this poor girl gave. And I don't think she was lying and neither did Tim.

And there were multiple witnesses. I think somebody had actually come and helped her and pulled her away from this being, whoever it was. And um it was we never got an answer for it. That happened 2 years ago. I think it was July or August of 2023.

And I've been asking whether there's been any more incidents involving these alleged beings on levitating platforms, but there are no confirmed reports of new attacks in Peru. Um Tim Alberino gives a really good account. I think he went on Sha Ryan and gave a description of what he'd seen. Um but there are um I think Brazil has had more recent incidents. There's been isolated Amazonian communities that have reported harassment also by floating aliens attempting abductions, including a video purportedly showing a human being being lifted by an ET craft in a remote village in September 2023.

And there's been incidents since then. Um, some have linked these to the Peruvian face peelers and uh, some I think the authorities came back with what I think was a completely implausible explanation that these were illegal gold miners wearing, believe it or not, jetpacks. And the locals just laugh at that account because they said there was absolutely no noise. If these were jetpacks, they would know they were jetpacks. There is no way they were gold miners, illegal gold miners wearing jetpacks.

And where where the hell would an illegal gold miner get the money or the resources to be able to procure a jetpack which is not an inexpensive item? And moreover, what's derived from doing that? Why would they have done this? So the explanation, the official explanation from the Peruvian government simply doesn't wash. [gasps] Um there have been I looked this up. There's been a in December 2024. There was uh speculation that there was a weakening geomagnetic anomaly in the South Atlantic that affected that part of South America that might be allowing entities into that realm. And uh this was all being sewn up in a huge sort of conspiracy theory about the face peelers and the uh the tridactyls.

Frankly, I I don't see anything in it to be honest with you. Um there have been multiple reports. Brazil is ground central uh for anomalous being reports and uh as you know uh James Fox's Vinha report will soon be in the public domain describing what happened there at Vaginha. Um there is most recently um in Brazil there's a place called Pawi P I A UI. Um but there were alle allegedly aggressive entities in that part of Brazil and there was allegations of them being biologically derived that these beings were trying to obtain sperm and eggs from humans.

But again, it's been dismissed as uh skeptically by some official commentators as just superstitious nonsense. I would love to get deep into the Peruvian jungle and get to the truth of this story once and for all because it is an intriguing mystery. And I remember Ronnie when he came back from Peru, he was absolutely convinced that there was anomalous activity happening in that area. And so is Tim Alberino, who I also find highly credible with his account of his interview with that 15year-old girl. And it does make me worry why government agencies move so quickly to dismiss these assertions.

Could there be another civilization or other entities living in occupying parts of the Amazon jungle? I mean, if you were a non-human intelligence, what better place to locate yourself near humans but with a reduced risk of detection? Maybe that's what's going on. I just don't know. But this is why these things need to be investigated on the ground. All right. And the second big question there, what do you know about Antarctica and UAPs? >> Ah, look, there's so many speculative stories about Antarctica and UAPs.

I will tell you one story. Um, my colleague Linda Molton How, the very celebrated uh UAP investigator some years ago interviewed people who purported to be former American uh pilots who had flown cargo aircraft. I think C130s and larger aircraft to the American bases in and around McMmero Sound in Antarctica. And in the interview, these men claimed that there were sections of Antarctic airspace that were um free of ice and that you could see entry points in the Antarctic ice pack. That part of their story I certainly haven't been able to confirm.

But I did at the time when I heard about this, I asked friends of mine in the New Zealand Air Force who also do flights for the New Zealand Air Force whether there were parts of Antarctica that were no fly zones or whether there were secret American bases in Antarctica. And initially I got a no. Uh my friend rebuffed it and said that's just complete nonsense. you know, we can go anywhere we want. More recently, I've been told there are undisclosed American bases in Antarctica.

Uh, and indeed, one of the best accounts of this came about as a result of a running app. I think it's the Straa running app where hilariously special forces soldiers who'd been deployed to this base were unknowingly transmitting with their watches back via satellite to the Straa app, showing them running in circles in the middle of Antarctica in a location that wasn't actually any known American base. And a lot of the reportage of this particular base location has been removed from the Google searches, but I've kept a tab on it and I'm following it up very aggressively. And yes, I do have an interest in Antarctica. I don't know what to make of the claims about Admiral Bird's expedition in the uh period immediately after the Second World War.

Um, there is long-standing reports that Admiral Bird, when he led a huge military expedition to Antarctica, which was largely military defense, armed to the teeth with fighter aircraft, it's never been satisfactorily explained why the Americans went to Antarctica with such a large military force in the aftermath of World War II and why they finished their expedition so quickly. And there were very cryptic comments made by Admiral Bird on his way back home through South America. I think he was in Chile. And he talked about the fact that we would need to start preparing for technologies that allow craft to fly across the planet at incredible speeds. What had he seen? Well, may we speculate.

Uh so yes, I I'm interested in Antarctica. If anyone knows anything about Antarctica that they want me to investigate, I'm happy to look at it, but I have an ongoing interest and I'll be bringing you more about it when I can on Reality Check. >> All right. Thank you, Ross. That is all we have for today.

>> Oh, well, we finished. That was quick. >> I was I was all ready for a lot more. I'm all fired up to answer lots of questions. Well, thank you.

>> We'll save it for next time. Um, if people do want to fire questions at us, you can send an email to reality check@newsnationow.com. [gasps] And of course, you can always hear the show and as well as watching it here on YouTube. You can always hear the show on all good podcast channels, including Audible and Spotify. Thank you so much, Megan.

Look forward to seeing you next week. >> Thank you, Ross. Thank you for watching. Subscribe below and download our NewsNation app right now on your phone and you will get fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans.