What the New UAP Files Actually Revealed with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Avi Loeb

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:06]So, I'm guessing um in light of all that that you played a role in coordinating uh the release uh with the executive branch, and I'd like to hear more about that as I'm sure a lot of people would.

[00:00:17]And also to hear um whether about whether you're optimistic about what the outcome is going to be.

[00:00:23]Yeah, so I mean early on, look, Burchett was kind of leading out the fight in this in Congress before I got here. And then even just going back to how I initially kind of found myself in this position is there's that infamous Eglin Air Force Base story where both myself, Gates, and uh Burchett had gone there and were stonewalled. And then obviously there was reports of the Air Force covering up UAP activity. And really what's great about this whole process of the release of files that by the way, according to the former uh deputy director, you know, or the former director of AARO, basically had inferred that these files never existed and that this stuff was just made up.

[00:00:59]That was Kirkpatrick. You know, he notoriously attacked our witness and then is still, you know, commenting, pretending that this stuff is not real.

[00:01:06]Um but all that to say that up until President Trump came out and said we're going to declassify, we were facing so much opposition and even being able to talk about this, get the stuff out there, release the files, um disclosure efforts were being knocked down, FA reporting procedures being knocked down.

[00:01:22]Both uh Burchett and Burleson had actively made efforts to put legislation forward that was killed immediately. So, yes, there was an orchestrated attempt here to basically prevent any of this from happening. Um but had it not been for really that Eglin Air Force Base incident and event, this probably wouldn't have really come to fruition in the way that it has. And I will all I will say is that yes, we basically were told if we came forward and discuss these things that we would be discredited um or that they would try to discredit us and we would ruin our political careers over it. Um not necessarily as a threat, but just kind of a warning because there was such a stigma surrounding the topics of this.

[00:02:02]But, I'm never going to tell people what to believe. I simply was pushing for transparency. Look at the videos, look at the testimony, look at the files yourself, and then determine, you know, I'm not It's not the job of the federal government or elected official to tell you what you should interpret or believe, right? But, what I can tell you is that there was a lot of shady stuff that happened. Um, part of my task force in declassifying declassification of federal secrets is pushing for transparency and following through on executive orders and direction that the president puts forward. So, initially we started out with JFK, MLK, and RFK. Um, we also had been trying to push for the release of the 9/11 files, but I was actually just told that we don't um, we don't think that that release is actually going to happen. And so, that, you know, going into all of these topics, when you have a federal government that's siloing information, that's not being transparent, in the history of the CIA, they are notorious for distorting evidence. We have documentation of that. If anyone's telling you otherwise, they are living in la-la land.

[00:03:06]Um, but part of restoring trust with the American people is transparency, and so that is what we've really been advocating for. So, um, yeah, it's kind of been added to, I guess, my portfolio and and things that I've been able to uncover, investigate, and help to bring to the forefront of national conversation. But, as you're saying, we were not crazy, we were telling the truth, so were the pilots, and you see that with the release of information.

[00:03:30]Thank you. And, Avi, I want to ask for your commentary on this. Um, you know, we have a number of new videos. Um, a lot of them came from AARO.

[00:03:40]Um, do you feel that the quality of the data that we have is enough for scientists to really uh, sink their teeth into? And can we get something out of this? Or are we going to have to push for um better better data, uh better imagery, uh stuff that scientists can really work on?

[00:03:58]Well, first I wanted to salute the visionary leadership of uh Representative Luna. I'm serving as her avatar in the scientific world. So, I'm facing backlash from scientists as much as even more than she's facing from politicians.

[00:04:16]Uh and on [clears throat] both fronts we I hope that we will prevail.

[00:04:22]Uh and you can sort of uh understand why a lot of people within the Pentagon or the intelligence agencies would push back and that's because they're not doing their job.

[00:04:33]Because the the defense budget is nearly a trillion dollars in 2026, yet they're unable to identify some objects in the sky. And we all know about the Chinese spy balloon. So, even if these objects that are unidentified have nothing to do with extraterrestrial civilizations, you know, that's the most down-to-earth approach.

[00:04:56]One would say that these are human-made and therefore from adversarial nations.

[00:05:00]And so, they're not doing their job and in order not to be scrutinized by Congress, they prefer to hide the data and fight back.

[00:05:09]And so, that's inappropriate because if they're not doing their job, uh we should be aware of that because they're being paid by taxpayers.

[00:05:17]Now, of course, there is the remote possibility that one in a million objects is extraterrestrial and that would be the biggest discovery ever made in science. And that's why I care about it. You know, for me any human-made object is boring.

[00:05:32]And nevertheless, the effort is worthwhile because if we can figure out the nature of these objects, at the very least we help national security. So, as a citizen of the United States, I feel that my time is not wasted. Uh as I work on the trying to interpret the data, I can help the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies figure things out. Now, you ask me about the first release. There was no particular object in the videos, images, uh, and other documentation that was released that is clearly from outside this Earth. And partly because some of the information was redacted, uh, and we don't know much about the cameras that were used. And the Apollo mission data, you know, is not convincing because we recently had, last month, the Artemis 2 flyby, uh, of the dark side of the moon. And the astronauts there took thousands of images, and we would have seen lights orbiting the moon in unusual ways. Uh, all we saw, I mean, the astronauts saw, are six flashes from impact of rocks on the surface of the moon. So, I would argue, based on Artemis, they used much better cameras, you know, and uh, and didn't see anything unusual. I I I would dismiss the Apollo data just because it could be just optical reflection within the old cameras that were used 50 years ago. Um, so, all in all, the first release was not convincing, but it's the first step, and I very much hope that in the next batch, hopefully within this month, there would be also the 46 videos that were requested by Representative Luna, so we can look into them.

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