Trump says Obama shared 'classified information' when he said aliens were real

US President Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of revealing classified information when the former president said "aliens are real" in a podcast interview released last week.

"He's not supposed to be doing that," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, adding: "He made a big mistake."

Asked if he also thinks aliens are real, Trump answered: "Well I don't know if they're real or not."

Obama told podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen that he thinks aliens are real, later saying he thinks its statistically likely for there to be life beyond Earth given the vastness of the universe.

"They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in Area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States," Obama said.

Obama's initial comments were made during a quickfire "lightning" round of questions.

In a follow-up post on Instagram, after his remarks made headlines, Obama, who served as president of the United States between 2009 and 2017, further clarified: "I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"

There was no indication that Obama relied on classified information when he gave the interview. The BBC has contacted Obama for comment.

For his part, Trump said on Thursday that while a lot of people believe in the existence aliens, he never talks about it, and "doesn't have an opinion on it".

In 2023, the US House of Representatives held a panel on unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAPs), known more colloquially as UFOs.

That hearing produced no major bombshells or confirmation of alien life.