Vance's comments come after the interest generated by former President Barack Obama, who stated that extraterrestrials were 'real' in a podcast, although he later qualified his statements. Obama clarified that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrial contact during his presidency. Former President Trump, for his part, promised to direct the Department of Defense and other agencies to disclose files on UFOs and 'alien and extraterrestrial life'. The White House even registered the domains 'Alien.gov' and 'Aliens.gov', suggesting a possible release of information.