'There is no indication of aliens': White House shoots down connection between UFOs and extra terrestrial activity
13 February 2023, 20:21 | Updated: 13 February 2023, 20:32
"There is no indication of aliens or extra terrestrial activity," the White House has said.
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Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said clarification over the unidentified objects had become a priority because they had "been hearing a lot about it".
“There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” she said.
Ms Jean-Pierre added: “It was important for us to say that from here, because we’ve been hearing a lot about it."
She joked: "I loved ET the movie but I am just going to leave it there."
It comes after a US general refused to rule out aliens being involved at a previous briefing.
The US has downed three objects in the air since it took out the suspected surveillance balloon China sent out.
General Glen VanHerck, who is in charge of North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command, was asked on Sunday if the objects shot down since then could extra-terrestrial.
"I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything," he said.
Read more: British war planes on standby '24/7' to shoot down Chinese spy balloon says Rishi Sunak
Meanwhile, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said the US was still working to "better understand" foreign intelligence collection efforts.
"We were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon programme for intelligence that's connected to the People's Liberation Army," he said.
Efforts are ongoing to recover what remains of the objects, but those in Alaska and Canada are more remote, making it harder to find what is left.
Just before the conference, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau spoke out saying the four aerial objects shot down were connected in some way.
"Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there - the fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention," Mr Trudeau said.
