Congressional reporter Myles Morell contributed to this report
Multiple members of Congress admitted “I don’t know” when pressed by The Gateway Pundit on Capitol Hill about the more than 160 never-before-seen UFO files the Pentagon released on May 8, 2026, under President Donald Trump’s direct order.
The historic declassification, the first tranche under the new Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, made public military reports, photographs, videos, and astronaut accounts spanning the 1940s to recent years. The files detail rotating saucer-shaped craft over Cold War Europe, metallic elliptical objects hovering motionless, glowing orbs with impossible maneuvers, and anomalous lights near Apollo missions that continue to defy conventional explanation.
Rep. @timburchett suggests that the “deep state” is trying to prevent the full release of the UFO files and full disclosure on them: pic.twitter.com/8FifYLU4Sh
— Myles Morell (@MorellMedia) May 18, 2026
“The deep state’s fighting the president on release…Some of our alphabet agencies are slow walking a lot of information. It’s about power. It’s about control,” Burchett, R-Tenn., told TGP in an exclusive interview.
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, pointed exactly to those encounters: “These were big orange balls, orange balls that chased aircraft in WWII. You ought to look it up.”
Rep. @PeteSessions on the UFO files.
He talks about these strange “big orange balls” that allegedly chased down aircraft during WW2 pic.twitter.com/fMsjNrC9o6
— Myles Morell (@MorellMedia) May 18, 2026
The files also expand on Apollo-era anomalies, including Buzz Aldrin’s report of a “sizable” object near the Moon and Apollo 17 astronauts describing bright tumbling particles lighting up the sky “like the Fourth of July.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., confirmed she participated in prior classified briefings and called the effort bipartisan, while stressing she had not yet reviewed the new batch.
“To be fair, I have to take a look at everything that was disclosed,” Ocasio-Cortez told TGP.
The New York Democrat cautioned that vague disclosure requests give agencies “discretion over what gets included and what doesn’t.”
“As a strategy, the more specific we can get about the areas, departments, and things that we would like to see disclosed, the more precise [disclosure] is…the easier it is to get that information,” she continued. “If you just ask in general ‘give us information,’ then whoever is providing it has discretion over what gets included and what doesn’t.”
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., rejected alien theories.
“These are not about aliens. This is not about foreign life,” Casten told TGP. “It’s a testament to science that we’ve identified so much else.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said her constituents are demanding answers: “Let’s have some transparency and get that information out.” She pledged to review the documents.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., noted the current administration has released more than predecessors but echoed the prevailing uncertainty, admitting he has no idea why the government has yet to disclose all the UFO files.
WATCH: @RepMeuser on full disclosure of the UFO files.
Meuser listened to an audio regarding, allegedly from Neil Armstrong in which he was talking about “objects” that he allegedly saw while in outer space. pic.twitter.com/4LcTljkjSz
— Myles Morell (@MorellMedia) May 18, 2026
Meuser questioned whether aliens have visited Earth, noting, “There’s one little problem … we [understand] our outer space out to almost one lightyear, and a lightyear is 6 trillion miles away. So it’s pretty difficult for someone to get here from 6 trillion miles away.”
In the past month, additional UAP activity has remained high.
A popular UFO tracking app documented thousands of mysterious underwater objects off U.S. coastlines, particularly in Florida and California. A bright light with rays over the Tampa Bay area sparked fresh debate just days ago.
A New Year’s Day 2026 UFO video over North America was also included in the May 8 release.
Some critics argue the high-profile UFO releases are timed to distract from demands for full Jeffrey Epstein files disclosure, a charge the administration denies.
The UFO files document objects exhibiting extreme acceleration, transmedium travel, and no visible propulsion — cases that have baffled military analysts for decades.
Additional tranches are scheduled for release every few weeks.
Whether the full record reveals breakthrough human technology, adversarial systems, or something far more extraordinary, the American people are finally getting a look. The real test is whether Congress and the permanent government are prepared for what comes next.
WATCH:
The post Trump Delivers 160+ UFO Files — Burchett Calls Out Deep State Slow-Walk as Congress Reacts appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.