Vice President JD Vance says he plans to use his access to the highest levels of government classification to investigate UFO files, and he told conservative commentator Benny Johnson that he doesn't think the answer involves extraterrestrials. He thinks it involves something darker.
"I don't think they're aliens. I think they're demons anyway," Vance said, as reported by Fox News Digital.
The vice president's remarks came during a conversation with Johnson in which Vance described himself as deeply curious about unexplained aerial phenomena and committed to reviewing classified government files on the subject before his term ends. It was a candid moment, a sitting vice president openly discussing the spiritual dimension of a topic Washington has spent decades dodging.
When Johnson asked directly, "You gonna release all the UFO files?" Vance didn't dodge. "Ah, we're workin' on it," he replied. He acknowledged that when he first took office, he "was obsessed with the UFO files" but got pulled into other priorities. Now, he says, he's circling back.
Vance, a Catholic, framed his view through the lens of Christian theology rather than science fiction. He told Johnson that the impulse to label every unexplained aerial event as "aliens" misses a richer, older tradition of understanding.
"I think that celestial beings who fly around, who do weird things to people, I think that the desire to describe everything celestial... to describe it as aliens, I mean every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there, and there are things that are very difficult to explain."
He went further, grounding his interpretation in a moral framework that most mainstream media figures would never touch. Vance said he "naturally" gravitates toward a Christian understanding of unexplained events, one that acknowledges both good and evil operating in the world.
The vice president has taken on an increasingly prominent public role in the Trump administration, and his willingness to stake out a theological position on a topic as politically charged as UFOs underscores his comfort operating outside conventional Beltway guardrails.
"And I naturally go, when I hear about, sort of, extra-natural phenomenon, that's where I go to is the Christian understanding that, you know, there's a lotta good out there, but there's also some evil out there."
He capped the thought with a line that will resonate with believers and raise eyebrows among skeptics alike: "the devil's great tricks is to convince people he never existed."
Vance made clear this isn't casual curiosity. He told Johnson he intends to use his remaining time in office to dig through the most sensitive material the government holds on the subject. As Newsmax reported, Vance said he has access to "the very tippy top of the classification" and vowed to "get to the bottom of it."
"Trust me, anybody who's curious about this, I'm more curious than anybody, and I've got three years of the very tippy top of the classification. I'm gonna get to the bottom of it," Vance said.
That's not the language of a man making small talk. It's a pledge, from someone with actual clearance to follow through.
Vance has shown a pattern of leaning into assignments others might shy away from. He has taken the lead on high-profile DOJ matters and has been unafraid to make public claims that carry political risk.
The vice president's interest in UFOs is not brand new. The New York Post reported that Vance said on the Ruthless Podcast he planned to use the August recess to "dive to the bottom of the whole UFO thing from last year." At the time, Vance put it bluntly: "Like I'm obsessed with the whole UFO thing. 'What's actually going on?' 'What were those videos all about?' 'What's actually happening?'"
The Post noted it was unclear how serious or joking Vance was at the time. But his latest comments to Johnson carry a sharper edge. He's no longer musing from the Senate. He's the vice president, with access to files most Americans will never see, and he's saying plainly that he intends to review them.
Vance's comments arrive against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's own public commitment to transparency on the issue. In February, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would order the release of government files related to unidentified aerial phenomena.
"Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
Whether that directive has been formally issued beyond the Truth Social post remains unclear from available reporting. But the signal from the top of the administration is plain: this White House is not treating the UFO question as a joke.
That posture stands in contrast to decades of Washington's default approach, which treated anyone who raised the subject seriously as a crank. Congressional hearings in recent years forced the Pentagon to acknowledge unexplained sightings, but the bureaucracy has moved slowly. Federal reviews by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and NASA have found no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, technology, or contact, according to Newsmax's reporting.
Vance isn't claiming the government has proof of anything. He's saying he wants to see what's there, and he's honest about the lens through which he'll interpret it.
What makes Vance's remarks notable isn't just the subject matter. It's the willingness of a sitting vice president to speak openly about his Christian faith as a framework for understanding phenomena that official Washington prefers to keep in the realm of dry acronyms and classified briefings.
The vice president has not been shy about staking out positions that invite media scrutiny. He has publicly addressed matters ranging from immigration fraud allegations to his expanding portfolio of investigative responsibilities within the administration.
His UFO comments will inevitably draw mockery from the usual corners. But Vance is making a point that goes beyond flying saucers. He's arguing that the secular instinct to explain away the unexplainable, to reach for "aliens" before considering anything spiritual, reflects a broader cultural refusal to take seriously what billions of people across every major religion have always believed: that the world contains forces that don't fit neatly into a government report.
That argument will land differently depending on the listener. But it's worth noting that Vance isn't hiding behind vague language. He said "demons." He cited Christianity by name. He referenced the devil. In a capital city that treats religious conviction as a liability, that kind of directness is rare.
Vance has also been entrusted with leading major administration initiatives, suggesting that Trump sees him as someone willing to take on assignments that require both tenacity and a thick skin.
The open questions remain significant. What will Vance actually find in the classified files? Will the administration follow through on Trump's stated intention to release government records? And will the public ever get a straight answer about what the military has observed in American skies?
None of that is settled. But the vice president of the United States just told the country he's looking, and he told them exactly what he expects to find.
In Washington, honesty about what you believe is usually the first thing to go. Vance seems determined to be the exception.
