UFO whistleblowers spill secrets, testify at UFO hearings | Backscroll

Transcript

Welcome to NewsNation's Back Scroll, where we look back at our major news coverage on the most important topics and personalities of our time. [Music] All right. UFO sightings the military can't explain. Congressional hearings, Pentagon whistleblowers, armadas of strange aircraft flying over, of all places, New Jersey. What does it all mean? Well, since last year's groundbreaking interview with whistleblower David Grush, News Nation's been out front on this story, and we've got another major exclusive.

A new whistleblower is coming forward saying he's not just saying he's heard about a secret government program to retrieve UFO crash remains. He says he's worked on this program. He claims to have video to prove it and credentialed colleagues who back him up and he has the attention of at least one senior lawmaker. News Nation's Ross Coltard has been working on the story for more than a year. He conducted the interview for a special report airing right here this Saturday at 8:00 PM Eastern.

And NewsNation correspondent Joe Khalil is here with a first look. Joe, these are pretty stunning claims. Yeah, they are. Elizabeth, the man you saw in the video, Jake Barber. He's an Air Force veteran and he is coming forward with some shocking claims.

The first person to go public saying that he actually participated directly in a secret military program that he believes was to retrieve retrieve UAP or alien craft. Now, Barber says he was contracted as a helicopter pilot. He retrieved all kinds of crashed craft. Some of it, he says, top secret and explainable. Others, he says, however, he believes were nonhuman origin.

It's not just him. We've got three other military veterans backing up his story on the record and on camera to News Nation. So, take a listen quickly to just part of Ross Coldart's conversation with Barber. So, tell me about the moment when you realized that you were involved in a retrieval of nonhuman technology, alien tech. So it became very clear the first time our communication process and procedure uh was modified and then just visually looking at the object on the ground you could tell that it was extraordinary and anomalous.

It was it was not human. How close did you get? Well I was a helicopter pilot and I operate with 150 ft to 200t long line. So I got within 150 ft of this object. What did you see? I saw an egg, a white egg. Was there any visible propulsion system on it? No, not what we would know.

There's no engine. There was no thermal uh signature. Uh I was operating at night when I finally came in to pick it up. So, I'm working under night vision goggles at the time. Um and it was quite clear.

I I flipped them up, flipped them down, and looked at it a couple of different ways. How did you know that that egg-shaped object was nonhuman in origin? Well, visually, after seeing all kinds of things in my past, um, it was clearly something that was ridiculously looking. It's inconsistent with anything I'd ever seen before. I can also tell you that the reaction by my team, we all knew we were dealing with something um, extraordinary. And at no stage were you ever subsequently told that the craft was of non-human origin.

I will tell you that during this process over the last couple years, it's been confirmed to me by ranking members of the UAP task force that what we were working with that night was in fact NHI and it was not a unique experience. So, Elizabeth, Saturday night, 8:00 p.m. is that special that you can see here. They've also got some exclusive video of one of these retrievalss that's never before been seen. Uh we've also confirmed Barber has met with some highlevel Senate staff.

So a lot there and you're going to see all that uh this weekend. Wow. Uh that's a blockbuster. All right, Joe Khalil, thanks so much. And we can all watch Hunting UFOs, the crash retrieval whistleblower this Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Eastern right here only on NewsNation. To help break it all down, I'm joined now by the Hill opinion contributor and former analyst at the departments of state and defense, Merrick von Renen Camp. Merrick, great to have you. Um, what do you make of this? I mean, yet another person coming forward with a new story, but still basically of the same theme that there is a secret Pentagon program with secret evidence that the public and lawmakers know nothing about. That's right, Elizabeth.

And and you alluded to it a little bit in the kind of the opening to the segment, but what I what I like to maybe take more of an analytic approach. And if we zoom out, you know, in the news cycle, we we focus on the latest breaking developments and the whistleblowers, but the smoke now around this UFO story is unbearable. It is it's choking. There is so much here. Um and again from an analytic perspective, the system is is blinking red, right? We have Chuck Schumer, the most powerful senator, um who has proposed bipartisan legislation that says that the government has these secret unreported um UFO retrieval and and reverse engineering programs.

you have remarkable commentary from just about every single former national security official um in recent years about UFOs. Um and and just to maybe tie this in, we've heard from President Trump, President Obama. Um they've they've all made remarkable statements. It's a it's an incredible shift from where we were over the last several decades. Just so our viewers know, America, go back to what presidents former presidents Trump and Obama have said because I want to remind our viewers.

Yes, absolutely. And and I want to I want to tie this directly back to what Mike Shelonburgger just said in that that segment um and and there there was a um an incident reportedly um according to this new whistleblower of of um F-22 fighter jets are truly our newest uh and and most advanced fighter jets um basically being chased and shadowed by orbs. That's the that's the allegation. President Trump has said the exact same thing. He said he has heard from Air Force F-22 pilots who um had encounters with spherical objects.

And if right now if viewers go to arrow.mill, that is the the US government's UFO analysis office, the most commonly reported um UFO is spherical. It's round um and apparently has some remarkable um characteristics. So from again and and what did former President Obama say? President, former President Obama a few years ago said um that there I'm going to quote as as directly as I as I can, but there is footage and records of objects in the skies and we cannot explain how they moved and their trajectory. And he's also um spoken about the implications if these UFOs, UAP, are indeed nonhuman and that is the language that Chuck Schumer uses. um you know he's he's openly discussed how that might change politics and how that might change um our perspective um on the cosmos and it most most certainly would have some pretty remarkable ramifications.

I think we can all agree on that. Yeah, I think it feels like we've crossed a Rubicon here from, you know, the days when anybody who said I think there's evidence there are that there are UFOs or that aliens have visited Earth, which by the way, it's incredibly I think, you know, prehistoric to think we're the only intelligent life in the entire universe. But um we've crossed this Rubicon from thinking, "Oh, if you say something or believe something like that, you're you've got you where's your tin foil hat?" to now having not one but two at least former presidents of the United States leading current members in in high ranking positions in Congress who say there might be something here. Absolutely. Um, again, the smoke is overwhelming and and to your point, I think the tinfoil hats should now be worn by the people who are denying that there's something to the story.

Um, it is just a remarkable switch. We went from in the 1950s and the 1960s to official um, debunking and obfiscation and truly ridicule. You can look this up. the first head of the CIA said said openly that that publicly we are rid the government is ridiculing um witnesses and individuals who've seen and very credible folks by the way um but behind the scenes this is direct quote this is in you know in in CIA archives you can find this that behind the scenes air force officers are soberly concerned was the the actual quote so this is truly a remarkable shift and and I just want to drive this home that this is truly bipartisan We have John Brennan. The former CIA director said that UFOs could quote constitute a different form of life.

Pretty remarkable from a former CIA director. All right, let's bring in now investigative journalist and co-host of the Weaponized Podcast, Jeremy Corbell. Jeremy obtained and released the videos that put into motion the first congressional hearings on UFOs in more than 50 years. Those happened just last year in 2022. Jeremy, you helped organize some of the witnesses for this hearing next week.

You say it will be historic. Why? Yeah. Well, absolutely it's going to be historic because there's never been a hearing like this from firsthand direct eyewitnesses as well as you know um people that have been involved with uncovering the offiscation that's occurred. So hearing from people directly who have engaged UFOs for the United States military is unlike anything we've had before. Before it was bureaucratic suits who are obiscating for for their own reasons.

This is different. This is historic. And we also just heard Representative Burchett say that he had seen much better quality video of these UAPs or he calls them UFOs and that they would be releasing that. That would be a first. Yeah.

I don't know if they're going to be releasing that, but that's the whole point of this is that people need to trust the system to come forward. We know now that everything we've been seeing that's been reported to journalists like me that this is accurate. This is correct. So now we're trying to pry that open to the American public and I I'm really happy that we got this far with these hearings. It was hard to convince my friends who are speaking to do this.

Some of them it was very difficult but they understand that the the importance now you know we just heard Ross talking about some of the push back that these congressional leaders are getting. We we also heard that congressional leaders in this hearing said today that they've been stonewalled by the military when they asked for details on UAPs. Does that surprise you? No, not at all. I've been up against this for many years. As you know, these witnesses, uh, two out of three you have coming up.

You know, they came to me first. So, I' I've heard about this. I've heard about, you know, how things have have gone with stonewalling and offiscation and just straight out lies. It is time to crack open the books so we can look at this. Imagine if we don't if we don't, we have a problem of strategic surprise.

We have an issue where we don't know what's flying in our skies. For example, the Congress people have not been able to have access yet to the footage of the shootowns over Alaska and over Canada. This is a problem of information flow. That's why people come to journalists like me rather than through proper channels that they do not trust. More whistleblowers are coming forward to me every day and I'm trying to pass them forward as they should be.

They're not only alleging that they're being stonewalled by the military. Congressional leaders are saying they're getting a lot of push back on holding this hearing. Representative Bashett said there are a lot of people who don't want this to come to light. And we're not just talking about the people who still think it's silly and ridiculous to talk about UFOs. This sounds like he's alleging other people who are really really saying do not do this.

Yeah. Well, you can imagine why. The reason is because a lot of these technologies have been siphoned over to aerospace companies as well as contractors for our DoD. And this is something that absolutely can change the way that we organize our technology. So the implications are so vast.

You can understand why there has been secrecy in the name of national security up to date. But the cat's out of the bag. There's nothing that can happen now. All we need to do is find out what is in our skies. Who made them? Where are they from? You know, the simple questions.

Just the simple little ones. Uh one more question. In the Senate, there's a bipartisan push to declassify UFO records. Do you think we're seeing a culture change here on this? It's gone from being something that everybody jokes and laughs about to something people are now taking very seriously. I'm sure you are very aware because of your reporting on this.

You guys being the first to bring out David Grush, who who by the way, you know, did come to me early on. Here's the deal. You've seen it yourself. This is a sea change. We are now looking straight forward at what's going on.

Now, we have to push for it. Nothing's going to be given. Whatever this UFO thing is, whatever it represents to humanity, we are inches away from starting to understand a greater concept of what it means to be human, no matter where they're from. Adversarial technology, it'd be a huge leap from somewhere else. Even weirder.

All right, Jeremy Corbel, I imagine you are going to be very, very interested in these hearings next week. I will be there. Yeah, I will be right there. Okay. I'll be submitting something onto the congressional record.

In fact, I can tell you that much. Perfect. Looking forward to hearing more about it. Thanks so much, Jeremy. Thank you.

Not seem like the UFO conversation is slowing down in Washington. And tonight, a bombshell report that shows the topic is really not going away anytime soon. Dozens more of government UFO whistleblowers have come forward to share information about UFOs to Congress, the Pentagon, and the Inspectors General. UFOs were once really a taboo topic, but it's now a pretty serious issue. A report by public uh reveals at least 30 whistleblowers working for the federal government or government contractors have given testimony or a protected disclosure to the office of the intelligence community inspector general, the defense department inspector general or to Congress over the last several months.

They've come forward with statements reportedly similar uh to UF UFO whistleblower David Grush uh who first spoke to NewsNation. Were they I guess human or non-human biologics? Non-human. And that was the assessment of people uh with direct knowledge on the program I talked to that are currently still on the program. And even UFO skeptics like Mick West, who's also been on this show, note the importance of more people coming forward. He said, quote, "It'd be very interesting.

You know, more people saying the same things independently makes it more likely to be true." But Inspector CH General Thomas A. Mannheim denied investigating these UFO claims, writing as a matter of discretion. ICIG notes that it has not conducted any audit, inspection, evaluation, or review of alleged UAP programs within the responsibility and authority of the DNI that would enable this office to provide a wholesome response to your questions. Dozens of whistleblowers giving testimony is not evidence of extraterrestrial life, and it's likely not part of a US government disinformation campaign, though no one really knows for sure. That's part of the problem.

It's part of a growing conversation about what's out there. Uh the report follows the federal government quietly releasing a bunch of new videos that supposedly contain UFOs. And I don't know if quietly releasing these things is a step in the right direction, but it's better than nothing. That's for sure. Because nothing from the government has definitely fueled distrust.

Uh the lack of transparency is something Dan has brought up on the show before. Uh, and now with dozens of government UFO whistleblowers allegedly giving testimony and a bunch of new alleged UFO videos coming out uh from the federal government from CBP, actually they're the ones who released it, border protection. Uh, what happens now? Joining me is Michael Shelonburgger, the investigative journalist who uh published that public piece today. Uh, Michael, thank you for being with us. really really incredible reporting that uh that took this to the next level for us to now know that 30 more whistleblowers have come forward and spoken to the Pentagon or to the inspector general or to Congress.

Do we have any indication of of what what they've said? Hey, good to be with you, Brian. Um yeah, I think it was a it's an interesting uh story we did today. Spent a lot of time on it, a lot of time working on it. Interviewed a lot of people. uh multiple sources, more sources even than my than my previous story.

And I, you know, pretty persuasive that really at least dozens of people have uh come forward as whistleblowers. Uh they are making claims that are as dramatic as the claims that uh Grush made to Congress and also to News Nation. uh you know the basic story of there being a crash retrieval program or reverse engineering program. You know as we point out in the story we're not saying that this is proof of of uh extraterrestrials or nonhumans. Uh we also point out that there has been government disinformation including uh claiming that there are extraterrestrials not just in in dismissing reports.

Um, and we point out that there's actually still a lot of secrecy and that there's resistance to more openness. You mentioned the inspector general of the intelligence community, Thomas Mannheim, had said to Congressperson Bett and Luna, that they were not doing an audit or kind of looking into it in a letter that made it sound like they were not investigating. But one of the sources for our article uh pointed out that he did not say that they were not doing an investigation and that may seem like semantics but actually it refers to a very specific part of the job which is to do investigation. So they could be doing an investigation but not really being open or transparent about it. So, you know, I think if this is a social contagion, which is definitely a possibility, uh, or if it's disinformation or if it's something else, there's still a lot of secrecy and and still a lot of people pushing to keep this a secret, which ironically just makes people more curious.

Um, okay, question for you. Are we alone in the universe? That was the central question during the latest congressional UFO hearing. If you watched yesterday, testimony from former military and intelligence personnel focused on long-standing concerns about government transparency and was at times shocking. Tom Dempsey joins us now from Washington with more. Tom, lawmakers hearing explosive new details about an alleged secret Pentagon program studying these mysterious aircraft.

That's right. Good morning, Barky. One of the most dramatic moments of this hearing came when author and journalist Michael Shelonburgger presented a 12page whistleblower report where he alleges there is a secret UAP recovery program outside congressional oversight. A program he calls Immaculate Constellation. 12 pages about this unagnowledged special access program that your government says does not exist.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace co-chairing the hearing titled Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Exposing the truth and acknowledging the executive branch of the government may be hiding the truth about alien life from the American people. This is the report that says the executive branch has been managing UAP NHI issues without congressional knowledge, oversight or authorization for some time, quite possibly decades. Author and journalist Michael Shelonburgger highlighted that the Immaculate Constellation report compiles detailed UAP sightings with highresolution imagery and intelligence, providing a more comprehensive look into these mysterious phenomena. Retired Navy Rear Admiral Tim Galedet revealing details about secret satellite images from a 2015 UFO case, the Go Fast near the USS Roosevelt, and testifying the cover up is unacceptable. The continued overclassification surrounding UAPs has not only hindered our ability to effectively address these phenomena, but has also eroded trust in our institutions.

In a stunning exchange, former NASA official Lou Alzando was asked if the government is now in possession of alien aircraft. Has the government conducted secret UAP crash retrieval programs? Yes or no? Yes. Advanced technologies not made by our government or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. NewsNation's Ross Coltart on assignment in Cairo, Egypt, reacting to the hearing. Frankly, the implications are that we're picking up things on our space sensor systems that are extraordinarily important.

And all that is needed is a change of attitude inside NASA to start taking this issue seriously. Lawmakers say the whole goal of these hearings is to pull back the curtain on this issue. And Marky, we might see even more of these hearings in the year to come. Marky. Yeah, I imagine there's more where that came from.

Tom Dempsey live from DC this morning. Thank you so much. That UFO whistleblower tonight saying he was categorically assured yesterday. The information the media outlet wrote about was not requested through a records request. We have reached out to the sheriff's office to confirm the recent report.

We also reached out to the Intercept journalist. At this point, we're still waiting to hear back from all the parties involved. Elizabeth. All right, Brooke, thank you so much. And joining us now with more on all this is Merrick von Renenf.

He served as an analyst with the US State Department and was an Obama administration appointee at the US Department of Defense. Uh, thanks so much for being here. I is reporting on someone's mental health crisis, one that David Grush suffered 5 years ago, really fair game? Elizabeth, thanks for having me first of all. Um, you know, that's that's a a muddy area. You know, this could be a journalist doing his job and and chasing a story or it could have a more nefarious kind of um backstory.

I I just don't know. There's there's not a lot of data and not a lot of specul. We can do a lot of speculation, but it's not going to help us very much. I think what is not disputed is that Congress is taking the types of allegations that Mr. Gush is making extremely seriously and and they're not just basing that um on his claims.

There have been a number of whistleblowers who have spoken to Congress. Senator Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has said some extraordinary statements about the individuals that have come forward to Congress. So, I don't know what what relevance this at this point has to be the the larger and the broader story, which I think is really the news. It's not him out there all alone. And David Grush is one of tens of thousands of vets who experienced PTSD after serving in war.

Does the fact that he had that affect his credibility? I I don't think so. For the very reason that, you know, kind of I I just stated that that the inspector general of the intelligence community has found his allegations credible and urgent. That was confirmed by Senator Rubio. And again, if you look at the legislation that is working its way through Congress right now, it is extraordinary. Senator Schumer has proposed legislation that has passed the Senate that defines and mentions nonhuman intelligence 24 times, two dozen times.

It requires that the government sees UFOs that are held by private corporations. And again, these are these are this is information that is in federal legislation. This is this has nothing to do with right with with Grush's credibility. This is based on multiple individuals that are that are testifying to Congress. Yeah.

It just bears also noting that David Gush was very open in his interview with us about the fact that he did at one point suffer from PTSD. The Department of Defense knew about this as well and his security clearance was not revoked. That's right. That's absolutely right. I I think he he addressed it admirably in the interview with Ross Colart, right? He he in effect said, "Hey, you know, he he turned it into a public service announcement and a positive uh kind of outcome." and he and he urged veterans that may be struggling with post-traumatic stress to seek help.

So from from my again from my perspective, this has nothing to do with the broader allegations and the the much more monumental story that that is developing here. Yeah. And at a time when we're experiencing a mental health crisis in this country, maybe an effort to, you know, impugn someone's credibility because they had a mental health crisis might not be the the best way to go when encouraging people to reach out and get help. [Music]