Ross Coulthart Q&A: Is Marco Rubio backtracking on 'Age of Disclosure' comments? | Reality Check

Transcript

Good day and welcome back to Reality Check Q&A. After my little absence trottting around South America and the deep remote parts of the Pacific, I was desperately trying to persuade my reality check editors to allow me to become the Rapanui Easter Island correspondent for NewsNation, but they saw right through me, didn't they, Megan? They they politely declined and told me to come back to work here in Australia to answer all of your viewer questions. Good day, Megan. How are you? >> Hi, Ross. I'm happy to see you back in the chair.

>> Nice to be back here. Nice to be back here. And what a busy time. Goodness gracious me. Is there going to be disclosure? Is Mr.

Trump going to make an announcement? I have a funny feeling it's all going to be a bit of a big yawn. But let's give it a go, Megan, and answer some of these viewer questions about that. >> That sounds good to me, Ross. We have a lot of people who are wondering where you were. So, I guess we will start with your trip.

We've got a post on X from Gonzalo. He says, "After visiting the tridactyl corpses and seeing the problems the researchers at the University of Eeka face with the Peruvian government, do you notice how similar it is to the issues in the US disclosure effort except for there the conflict is over physical evidence, not whistleblowers?" >> Okay, Gonzalo, let me be very clear. At first, um, I was very, very skeptical about the so-called tridactyl beings, objects being real beings, because like a lot of people, I'd swallowed particularly the Reuters news report, which suggested that there were artificial toys, hoax objects that had been intercepted at an airport on their way out of Peru. and it put a stink over the whole thing that quite frankly suggested to me remotely that there was something very smelly or suspicious about these objects. Having seen them for myself, I can't reach at this stage a definitive conclusion.

But what I can tell my viewers and listeners is I do not think these are hoax objects. I do not think that they are some kind of constructed artificial object. The scans and indeed the visual inspections that we were allowed to do in three separate locations of three separate groups of beings blew me away. Frankly, they are real, whatever they are. Uh what needs to be done and this is what we're hoping we can do with the story that we will be airing is find scientific researchers who are rigorously independent and determined to do the quality DNA and other forensics testing that allows us to confirm the already independently researched findings that have been done by US, Mexican, and Peruvian scientists, suggesting there is indeed something anomalous about these objects.

And yes, I do agree there is a similarity to the way that the issue has been, how does one say this? Sciopt disinformed. I have no doubt at all that someone along the way has been putting down poison for the tridactyl story. I was as fooled as everyone else. I'm not saying definitively that they are alien beings or indeed anything anomalous, but I certainly agree that we've got over a probitative hurdle, which means that they should be properly rigorously investigated. They deserve full scientific investigation.

And I'm in no doubt whatsoever about the credibility, the authenticity, and the sincerity of the scientists that we met in IKEA, Lemur, and Kusco. All of whom are desperate to have the research that they've done verified and independently reviewed by some of the world's top scientists. Um, I just wish the US showed as much openmindedness about the issue uh on other issues. uh with the the subjects of UAP in the United States. I can tell you that there are good scientists in South America that genuinely want this issue investigated.

They're not bludgeoning me or any other researcher to reach a conclusion. What they want is independent, verified, peerreview research. By golly, that's what we're going to try and help them get. They deserve it. I I think they're authentic and credible people.

Let's see whether the objects that they've got uh can be prosaically explained or are they as the evidence perhaps perhaps suggests are they evidence of some perhaps prehuman advanced technology civilization or are they evidence of some ev some civilization that existed contiguously with humans which went largely undiscovered. Some of the evidence suggests they might have lived through to as late as 800 AD, but some of the evidence also suggests that they may be as old as 13,000 plus years. It is mindblowing. And I can tell you, Megan, and dear Reality Check viewers, it blew me away to hold those incredible objects in my hands and look at the complexity of their construction. They are no way artificial objects.

They are not toys. They're not hoaxes. Whatever they are, they're real and they need investigation. >> Well, we look forward to bringing everybody four plus episodes of your entire trip. Um, >> maybe more.

Maybe more. >> Well, we're going to move on to another huge story that happened while you were gone. Age of Disclosure. It came out. People are seeing it.

We've got a question on X from guitar and Jits. Please ask him about Marco Rubio's latest comments on the age of disclosure from the Fox Handy interview with Marco Rubio. His comments don't inspire any confidence. >> I agree. I mean, I think frankly uh it's clear Marco Rubio in his interview with Sean Hannity has acknowledged that the interview was done he said three or four years ago.

That's not true. It was about two years ago. My understanding is it was the winter of 2023. Um he knew full well what he was saying and I'm told by people close to the project that um uh he was fully aware of the edits and how his views were being represented. Uh it's perhaps unfortunate that now that he's the acting national security adviser as well as the secretary of state I would find it very hard to believe that Marco Rubio has not been briefed readin i.e security briefed into the legacy program.

If he hasn't been then that's another reason why the Trump administration needs to take the so-called deep state very very seriously indeed. I I was I was actually frustrated, I'll be honest, with Sean Hennity's interview because I was waiting for him to ask Marco Rubio as acting national security adviser, "Have you been briefed? Have you been read in or told anything about the UAP legacy program?" U uh what's his name? Brett Bayer on Fox did an excellent interview recently where he went into some of the detail with um Dave Grush about uh what Dave allegedly discovered uh during his research into the legacy program. There was an open opportunity there for Fox to basically ask the question which is Mr. Acting National Security Adviser, Mr. the guy who advises the president on national security.

Have you been briefed on UAPs? And of course, we didn't get that question asked. So, we didn't get that answer. And it worries me because there was the usual kind of nervous titter that happens whenever questions get asked about UAPs. And I don't know why that's the case. The thing that got most people excited about Marco Rubio's um statements was that uh Michael Shelonburgger, a friend of this show and a friend of mine, did a very good piece where he interviewed an anonymous senior advisor to Marco Rubio who quotedly was quoted as saying, "We are headed towards massive disclosure." Now, he didn't say who this adviser was.

Uh, it's not clear whether that statement was authorized by Marco Rubio, but I I have to be honest, I'm not seeing even a whiff, a scaric, a hint of anything coming from the Trump administration on any imminent disclosure. Uh, I don't think they're actively avoiding the issue. The way it's been explained to me, they've just been overwhelmed in the first six to eight months of their administration with dealing with what they've had to deal with. the Middle East, Ukraine, the economy, uh, everything else that the Trump administration's had on its plate, maybe the subject of the biggest story in human history, the greatest secret that mankind has ever known has perhaps been relegated to a lower priority. I have no idea why.

If I was Donald Trump or Marco Rubio, the first thing I would do when I got into office was bring in the head of the DIA, the head of the CIA's science and technology department, and I would say, "You gentlemen will be tried for treason if you don't tell me the truth right now about UAPs. What do we have? What do we know? And why haven't we told the American public about it?" And if they haven't asked that question, that is a dereliction of their responsibility as officers of executive government that are entrusted by the American people to protect the American Constitution. Because fundamentally at the heart of all of this, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, every other member of the administration knows that it is an article of the US Constitution that requires that Congress be informed about any expenditure that has been done in its name. And if it's true that there's been billions, perhaps trillions of dollars expended on a legacy UAP retrieval and reverse engineering program, even if a president has issued an executive order or a peed a presidential emergency action directive, that does not excuse the obligation to notify Congress. And if Marco Rubio has not asked the question as acting national security adviser about the legacy program, he bloody well should be because this is the biggest story in human history and the public have a right to know.

>> Ross, I totally agree and I'm not one to start a fight with Sean Hannity, but I have the transcript in front of me and I just want to point out one thing that I would love to hear you touch on. The very first question of the interview is I want to start this out with a fun question. So, it's just confusing to me. Is the mainstream media starting to take this topic seriously or do they still need to kind of make a joke out of it before they even start discussing it with somebody like Marco Rubio? >> That's what irritates me about this whole subject. Why is it a fun question when, as the age of disclosure demonstrated, people like James Clapper, people like Jay Stratton, um they've got on the record, highly credible, authentic, former senior government officials.

I think Jay's got the uh the status of a vice admiral from his civilian position as the head of the UAP task force. This is not some inconsequential role. These are people saying they have in Jay's case direct knowledge of the legacy retrieval and reverse engineering program. Why? I I don't want to buy a fight with Fox or Sean Hannity. I I I actually quite like a lot of the work that Fox has done recently, but why be so flippant about a subject that is so important? Why invite the interviewe Marco Rubio to treat this as a fun question? Why is it a fun question? Why aren't we at the stage now where when the age of disclosure movie makes incredibly clear serious credible people are saying this is a real subject, an authentic subject for investigation? Why invite such flippency? I I I don't understand.

I I completely agree with you, Megan. It it makes no sense to me that we would invite an interviewee just to treat this as a joke question. Well, we would love to have him on. So, open invitation for Marco Rubio for you. >> Absolutely.

I I would love to get him on. And the first question I would ask him is the question that should have been asked, which is, Mr. Secretary of State, Mr. Acting National Security Adviser, you've been in office now for 9 10 months. have you sought and received any information at all on the legacy UAP retrieval reverse engineering program? And if his answer was no, I'd say why not? Why not? And it does make me wonder, I mean, I know a lot of people are getting very cynical and very skeptical about the Trump administration and saying that Trump has wimped it.

David Grush um uh you know obviously stuck his neck out recently on Fox News by doing another interview with Brett Bayer in the hope that we could push the Trump administration to do something about the UAP disclosure issue. Other people have spoken more recently. The age of disclosure is an enormous leap forward in terms of adding credibility to the issue. I'm very disappointed. I don't see any evidence at all that the Trump administration at executive level in the White House is doing anything about it.

There is there is an ongoing FBI and office of director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Cash Patel investigation into alleged illegalities. Uh no answers yet on what's coming out of that but uh there is a deafening silence from the White House. Is it as I've been told that the president is too scared to take this issue on? Has Donald Trump wimped it? I'm not calling the president a coward, but is he intimidated by the national security state? Has he been cowed by the deep state? I wonder. >> Well, our next question is in that similar vein. This is from Marty and email.

Hi, Megan Ross. Appreciate your efforts on this subject. As someone who has been following this fascinating mystery for over 30 plus, I'm starting to feel we are on the brink of an announcement, especially after hearing the comment in the last week from various individuals, David Grash, etc. that efforts are ongoing in the Trump White House. Ross, did you notice within the end credits of Age of Disclosure, Bob Fish was an adviser.

Is that significant? Also, when General Neil McCassland mentioned in a leaked email it was the end of the Cold War and we discovered a life form, he might have been referring to the NHI's taken back to the US after the Virginhai UFO crash in 1996. That was not long after the Cold War had ended. Thanks and keep up the good work. >> Okay, now I might be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure cuz I wrote the book about this. I'm pretty sure he didn't say it was the end of the Cold War and we found a life form.

I think he said to Tom Dong, and this is the quote, it was the cold war and we found a life form. Um, and that doesn't mean it was at the end of the cold war. I don't think it was the 1996 vaginha crash that he's referring to. Um, I think General Neil Mccasand when he was talking to Tom Dong was probably talking about either Roswell 1947 or Aztec which I think was 194849 I can't remember straight away but um there were as we know alleged multiple retrievals of craft in that period of time in the late 40s early 50s. Um as for Bob Fish Bob's a friend of mine we keep in touch.

Um, I don't think it's significant that Bob was an adviser to the age of disclosure. Uh, if I was um Dan Farah and uh J Stratton and uh uh Lu Lzando who were putting all this film together, I would be basically um wanting to draw on the best available sources. And Bob's one of the people who I highlighted in my book knew a great deal. He was um revealed in the Podesta emails that were leaked on Wikileaks. uh to be someone who'd contacted uh Podesta in the White House with information about UAPs.

Um but I I you know with the greatest respect to Bob, I don't think his information is any more revelatory than what people like David Grush or J Stratton or others have revealed. Um, suffice to say, I just want to emphasize, I think at the moment, what the Trump administration is doing on UAPs is a big fat nothing. And I worry that we are having the wool pulled over our eyes yet again by the national security state that has been fighting a viciferous war behind the scenes. A lobbying battle with key senators, key chairmen and women of various committees to try and shut down public scrutiny of the UAP issue. There are very brave and courageous politicians who've stuck their necks out and whistleblowers like Dave Grush, Jay Stratton, Lu Lzando who've really pushed hard for the White House to do something about it.

But I have to say at the moment I think that we are essentially being blown smoke and mirrors. I I think the administration is trying to ignore it. I don't know whether it's just because it's distracted by other events. I find it very hard to believe that either Marco Rubio or Donald Trump would not have asked the question as soon as they got into power. Frankly, they should have.

This is all about the concealment of technologies, of information, of incredible knowledge, sacred knowledge that the public, the human race has a right to know. Unless there's some good reason for the public not to be told about it, I think the president should be considering making an announcement. And uh it would be a grave disappointment if we came to the end of 2025, yet another year where a president allows themselves to be snowed by the national security state. >> Okay, Ross, I've got another big headline that we would like your input on. The AP put this out.

Malaysia's transport ministry said Wednesday that a private firm will resume a deep sea hunt for Malaysia's airline Flight 370 later this month, more than a decade after the jet vanished without a trace. The search will be carried out by a Texas-based marine robotics firm, Ocean Infiniti, which signed a no find, no fee contract with Malaysia's government in March. >> Well, it's good news. It's good news that they're recommencing a search. My worry is that they may [clears throat] be looking in the wrong place.

A lot of this is based on I won't go into the incredible detail of it, but essentially it's um new types of data uh investigating um uh electromagnetic uh radiation changes that occur when an aircraft moves through space. U and it means that they allegedly have been able to plot or or harden up the location of MH370 somewhere at the bottom allegedly of the Indian Ocean. Um, I'll be interested to see what they find and if they find. I've done numerous stories on MH370. As viewers would know, I do not subscribe to one conspiracy theory that MH370 was um taken by orbs into some kind of portal which uh is based on a now discredited CGI.

And at risk of attracting the viciferousness of several raving nutters on UAP media, I just don't give that theory any currency at all. But I do think that there's something anomalous about the disappearance of MH370. It needs to be resolved. It's one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time. And um I'm actually in touch with people in Malaysia at the moment.

I may be bringing a future story to reality check with some new information from Malaysian researchers, which interestingly enough suggests that MH370 may be in an entirely different location from where the Ocean Infinity people will be searching. So, it'll be very interesting to see what comes out of this search. It's good news, though. Um, I just I hope like hell for the families. I'm in touch with two of the families.

Uh people forget that, you know, there are loved ones who've been agonizing for 10 years now to get an answer about this and it causes them real pain when there is um a lot of wacky conspiracy theories pedled about coverups and lies. So the public do deserve answers, especially the the people the families of those who were lost. >> Absolutely. Russ, we will go to our next question posted on X. This is from Guy Incognito.

Who is the person you trust the most in the government when it comes to being open and honest about the phenomenon and why? >> Um, I can't name that person. In fact, there's multiple people in government who are helping me on a confidential basis. Uh, I trust them the most because they have been consistently accurate in terms of what they've told me about the legacy UAP retrieval and reverse engineering program. They are patriots. They think that there are crimes being committed, illegalities being perpetrated because of the continued concealment of this program.

They think that there are sections of the Pentagon and the intelligence community and private aerospace who have exceeded lawful authority and are basically acting uh ultravar above the law and they think it's time that they were brought into check. Um uh I can't name those people because to do so would be to jeopardize their confidentiality. But uh suffice to say there are real patriots in the American government, good people who recognize the public's right to know um uh in government. I guess if you would if you were to nominate people in government, does it constitute being in government to be working as a staffer for a um a member of Congress? If that was the case, I'd nominate Dave Grush because David Grush has consistently been, in my opinion, the most accurate and the most truthful reteller of what he knows. And um I just hope that at some stage he gets the vindication he deserves.

>> The first ever reality check disclosure award goes to Dave Grush. [laughter] >> All right, here's an email from Joe. Goodday, Ross. If Brandon has direwolf DNA, wouldn't it be the ultimate evidence, not to mention a suite up yours if he invested in producing a clone? Love your work. Thanks, mate.

Joe. >> Okay, just to give our audience some background to this, a few months ago, I did a reality check with Brendan Fugal where we went through some of the revelations from the latest Skinwalker Ranch series. And unlike a lot of people, I actually applaud the science that's being done by the scientists on Skinwalker Ranch. Um, I don't think it's a government disinformation project and I think they are doing good, solid work. And I'm persuaded that Brandon is genuine when he says that he will not allow the people that are doing the production to put in knowingly false information.

Um, I'd love to hear from anyone, by the way, who you a lot of people claim to me that there's stuff on skinwalker that's false. I'd love to hear your evidence. Um, the interview I did with Brandon, we talked about the fact that a partial dire wolf, potential dire wolf carcass was found by a riverbank on Skinw Walker Ranch. Why is this significant? Well, firstly, it's significant because there are allegedly no wolves in Utah. Uh, more importantly, the dire wolf died out 10,000 years ago.

It's not meant to exist currently. Um, the bits that were found from memory, I do recall it was a jawbone and some other DNA material. It was DNA tested by a company known as Colossal Bioscience. Um, and yes, they are the people who are going on to try to clone a new direwolf, a modern-day direwolf. uh they made a claim I think back in April this year that they had successfully cloned or were about to successfully clone but there's some skepticism about that.

What can we say? I don't think we can definitively say that what was recovered at Skinwalker Ranch was a dire wolf. But what they did find was that it was 30 No, it was less than that. It was about, shout at me if I'm wrong, Brandon, but I think it was 10% or 30% DNA of a wolf and the remainder was some species unknown to human science, which strongly suggests it might be dire wolf. And I also remember there was a biologist zoologologist called um I can't remember his first name Woodruff on the Skinwalker Ranch episode who looked at the uh structure of the jawbone of the creature that was found and said it looked like a spitting image of a direwolf. So how did this happen? We don't know.

Uh but wouldn't it be cool if they could uh create a direwolf from that DNA? Um let's wait and see. I'd like to see the evidence. Um, certainly one cannot say categorically that it was a direwolf that was recovered, but sure as hell it's intriguing. If it wasn't, what is it? All right, we have another question about Skinwalker Ranch. This is an email from John.

Hi Ross. Wouldn't Robert Bigalow be a great person for Congress to have to testify for a future UAP hearing? If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Piccolo has been involved in many aspects of this field and his several year ownership in research at Skinwalker Ranch, the results of which have never been released to the public could provide a lot of information. Thanks and keep up the good work. Uh firstly I I would actually want to underline I think the public owes a deep debt of gratitude to Robert Bigalow for funding the research that was done by his firstly um NID's team the National Institute of Discovery Science of which Edgar Mitchell was a member a board member they did some of the original groundbreaking work into Skinwalker Ranch and my understanding is he was also then involved when the DIA came into the ranch and um did some of their investigations there and uh indeed he may have been present when some of the anomalous phenomena was observed.

Um it would be fantastic to get Robert Bigalow to give evidence but I suspect he's operating under the same constraints as a lot of people from that event are. They're under non-disclosure agreements with the Defense Intelligence Agency which funded the OSAP research. That wouldn't block Robert Legalow, by the way, from uh doing um an interview about his National Institute of Discovery Science research. And look, he's done a couple of interviews over the years with George Knapp, our friend and colleague. U and I'd love to get him on reality check.

I've tried a few times. Um he uh he's resistant to um intense journalistic scrutiny I suspect because there are a lot of questions curly questions we could ask him about what he's uncovered in his time there and what conclusions he's reached. And don't forget also that Robert Bigalow has also been doing work into consciousness. Um tragically I understand he lost his son. Uh my deepest sympathies there sir.

And more importantly, he's taken an enormous amount of effort to fund investigative research into whether human consciousness survives biological death. And I strongly suspect it does. So yes, he'd be a great interview uh along with so many other people who should be called. I'm constantly perplexed at the people who are being called before the congressional inquiries. And I don't know why people like Robert Bigalow are not being called in open public forum and invited to give testimony under oath in a full public hearing.

It would be great to hear him testify. He's a great American. He's given an enormous amount, much much more than people realize to public understanding of anomalous phenomena and uh he deserves credit for that. >> I agree, Ross. You know, I'm from Las Vegas.

So um the Big Lows are an amazing family in >> Oh, you're a Las Vegas girl. I thought you were a California girl. I'm I'm everywhere, Ross. I'm I'm everywhere. [laughter] But Vegas, yep, Vegas made, baby.

Go night. >> Okay, I just want to give a quick plug to the state of the world forum which is being held online hosted by my friend Jim Garrison and myself on the period 14th to the 17th of December this year. Uh what is the state of the world forum? Well, Jim Garrison is an amazing guy. He uh worked for a long time with the New Paradigm Institute with Danny Sheen and he's moved very much more assertively into consciousness studies. Uh Jim wouldn't mind me saying he's a bit of an old hippie and at the end of the cold war he did something quite miraculous between 1995 and 2000 he started up this thing called the state of the world forum where he got Mikall Gorbachef the president of Russia and u secretary of state James Baker um the Indian national congress president Sonia Gandhi the primatologist Jane Goodall noble laureates South African president they becki and an array of people to come and speak at a forum that discussed the state of the world at the end of the cold war and what possibilities there might be for peace in the world in the emerging world order and 20 years on Jim's decided to do it again and I'm very privileged to be involved in this on December the 14th and just to repeat the link it's www.stateoftheorld.forum forum on the 14th to the 17th of December and it's centering around four consequential truths.

Accelerating planetary ecological collapse, increasing global and social instability. Are we going to war? Is World War II imminent? Exponential AI. Are the computers going to kill us? And my personal favorite and obsession, cosmic intelligences are present on Earth. It's the first time that disclosure is going to be integrated into a major conference with other world issues and we'll be running multiple forums highlighting the latest for example three atlas with professor Avi lobe UFOs and nukes with Dr. Beatric Villerol, my favorite astrophysicist, and the interface between AI and non-human intelligence with Pipper Mongrren and numerous other speakers speaking about consciousness and how we can achieve world peace.

It may be a naive hope in these grim times as the clock ticks ever closer to doomsday midnight, but he is hoping that the speakers including Diane Hennessy Powell, Dr. Ravi lobe Kai Dickens from telep telepathy tapes astrophysicist Dr. Beatatric Villerol Dr. Rupert Shel Sheldrake the biologist and consciousness researcher former US National Science Foundation program director Dr. Anna Brady Estz experiencer author Chris Bledzo economist technologist Dr.

Pipper Mongram and former UAP task force collaborator Sarah Gam. He is hoping we can arrive at a solution for world peace and UFOs AI NHI. Please go to www.stateoftheorldforum state sorry start again start stateoftheorld.forum and sign up to view the online forum that'll be taking place from December the 14th for 3 days. I hope to see you there. Thank you so much for joining us here on our first reality check Q&A.

Since I've come back from South America, News Nation cruy rejected my bid to become the Rapanui correspondent. I had dreams of panina coladas and sacheting beach holiday for the rest of my life. It wasn't going to happen. But it's an amazing story and we're looking forward to bringing you those stories very very shortly on Reality Check and News Nation. We're going to be doing something very special on the tridactyl beings.

And don't forget, you can always send your questions to us for Q&A at reality checks now.com. >> Yep. >> Wonderful. Thanks so much for joining us and thank you Megan. >> 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.