While many members of Congress were slow to react to UFO whistleblower David Grusch’s claims, the reactions from the House and Senate are now slowly coming out. And it appears there is bipartisan support for hearings looking into Grusch’s allegations that the U.S. has a clandestine UFO retrieval program it’s hiding from Congress and AARO. Some Congressional members are saying the new claims are similar to what they’ve heard before, and many agree that we need to get to the bottom of what’s happening. Here’s a roundup of what Senators and House Representatives in Congress have said so far.
To review a comprehensive, in-depth breakdown of all of Grusch’s claims, with citations, see our story here. We’ll be sharing all our latest UAP articles in our UFO Discord channel, so join us there or subscribe to our emails.
Sen. Hawley: ‘None of It Is Good’ & It’s Close to What He Heard in a Briefing
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, told Wired that some of the recent disclosures from Grusch are similar to what he heard in Congressional classified briefings after UFOs were sighted and shot down earlier this year. While the Wired report was heavy-handed in trying to make the UFO concerns partisan (often citing “far-right” claims), the article helpfully provided numerous citations from people in Congress.
Hawley, for example, told Wired: “They were talking about the balloons, and then several senators pointed out, ‘Now hold on: We’ve had a lot of unidentified anomalous phenomenon for years now,’ and that’s when the military briefer was like, ‘True. True.’ The takeaway from that is, they had thousands of sightings of these things over the years, which was news to me. So I’m not surprised, necessarily, by these latest [Grusch] allegations, because it sounds pretty close to what they kind of grudgingly admitted to us in the briefing.”
He added: “It’s not good. None of it’s good. I think we want to get to the bottom of this. I think it’s disturbing.”
Sen. Gillibrand & House Representatives Want to Hold a Hearing
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, told Wired that the allegations have left her wanting to know more.
“We need to just look into whether there are rogue SAP programs that no one is providing oversight for,” she told Wired. “The goal for me will be to have a hearing on that at some point so that we can assess if these SAP’s actually exist… I have no idea [if Grusch’s claims are true.] So I’m going to do the work and analyze it and figure it out.”
She’s also proposing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring all money spent on SAPs to be reported to Congress. Of course, if Grusch’s claims are true and a secret UAP retrieval program already was not divulged to AARO, it’s not clear why it would follow any other amendments or policies.
Others in Congress agree with wanting a hearing.
Rep. Tim Burchett said in a podcast with Steve Bannon that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer both want hearings on the allegations.
Witnesses will be brought in and we will hold hearings on UAPs. It's time. The American people can handle it. pic.twitter.com/tXql8mWwE9
— Rep. Tim Burchett (@RepTimBurchett) June 13, 2023
In an interview with NewsNation, Burchett — who will likely be leading the House’s UAP hearing — said they were trying to get witnesses lined up before they could schedule anything. He added that they would try to get Grusch into the hearing, but he has to be careful about not crossing over any classification lines.
Burchett also added that the “intelligence meeting that was open to the public” previously wasn’t any good, and they “couldn’t even spell UFO.”
“Honestly, we really got hosed on that meeting,” he said. “…They built it up as they always do, and it was absolutely nothing. They could not slow down a 22-second videotape…”
Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee James Comer told NewsNation that Burchett and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna would be taking the lead on having a House hearing on UAPs, the Liberation Times reported.
Thank you @RepJamesComer ! Very happy to announce @RepTimBurchett and myself will be working with the @GOPoversight team to lead out the investigation into UAPs (UFOs). pic.twitter.com/OzEPo2vhk3
— Anna Paulina Luna (@realannapaulina) June 7, 2023
Luna tweeted confirming the news.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat from Florida, said he supported Comer and having a hearing about UAPs, Outkick reported.
“I think there are important questions to ask, and by the way, if there are things the federal government is holding back from the American people, the American people have a right to know,” Moskowitz told NewsNation in an interview.
As a quick refresher, here’s one of the comments that journalist Ross Coulthart made about Grusch’s claims after interviewing him. It’s seriously chilling:
https://www.tiktok.com/@postapocalypticmedia/video/7243631942954994990
It’s understandable why Congress would want to investigate this with a public hearing.
Sen. Heinrich: ‘Decorated Pilots … Are Experiencing Things We Can’t Explain’
Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico on the Intelligence Committee, told Wired that while he’s skeptical of many UAP claims, he can’t deny that something’s going on.
“What I take seriously is sometimes we just have these really good, decorated pilots and navigating officers who are experiencing things that we can’t explain, so we need to collect data so that we can figure out what is going on,” he told Wired.
The Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Said He’d Heard These Allegations Before
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner didn’t have a lot to say to Wired at first. He initially commented: “There’s been a lot of incoming. Frankly, I just need to find out more information on this.”
But when pressed about Grusch’s specific claims, he added: “We’ve heard these accusations before… Let me get some information first.”
Journalist Leslie Kean, who broke the news about Grusch’s whistleblower claims, has said that while members of Congress were briefed on Grusch, the intelligence committee is not allowed to comment on Grusch’s investigation while it’s still ongoing.
https://twitter.com/MetaStudioLogic/status/1670928090279837696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1670928090279837696%7Ctwgr%5E125598b41cfeda5cfa6251f98f3808324611d5e3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2F14dwn3s%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dfalse
Rep. Burchett: ‘I Do Believe We’ve Recovered Craft’
Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, is more forthcoming about the allegations. In a podcast interview with Steve Bannon, he said: “I think it’s a little bit of madness and a whole lot of reality. I do believe we’ve recovered a craft at some point.”
Burchett speculated that the bloated Pentagon budget might be related to a hidden UAP program.
In an interview with NewsNation, he also said he found Grusch’s claims to be very believable.
https://twitter.com/AdamGoldsack/status/1668633689809641478
Burchett said he’s known Grusch for some time and he believes the military might see the UAPs as an opportunity to seek even more money.
“I really think what we’re seeing now is the military machine realizing there’s some dollars out there and our Pentagon, which loses over a billion dollars a year in audits and nobody asks any questions, is gonna start asking us for more money to ‘study’ the issue when in fact, if they just released some of the files they released to us that are so heavily redacted…we could get to the bottom of this a lot faster.”
In an interview with Newsmax, Burchett said he believed the U.S. was covering up the truth about Roswell, Newsweek reported.
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1670192104809680896
“I do 100% [believe the U.S government is covering up] since 1947 Roswell… the military said we’ve recovered a saucer and then the next day they dropped this poor officer out and claim he holds up a piece of a hot air balloon and says, ‘No in fact it was a hot air balloon,’ which apparently was a top secret program at the time and they’ve never would have disclosed it in any way.”
Interestingly, Grusch also hinted that Roswell was actually a UFO retrieval in his extended interview on Newsmax, noting that the question was something the Pentagon had not cleared him to talk about.
Rep. Gaetz: ‘I Have Seen Evidence of Craft’ That No One Seems Capable of Possessing
In an interview with Newsmax, Rep. Matt Gaetz said that he’s seen evidence of UFOs.
“I have seen evidence of craft that I am not familiar with any of our allies or adversaries or even our country possessing. I’ve seen that craft taken by air crews who have gotten quite close to it and we’ve got a lot more questions about why this information isn’t more broadly available to the American people.”
Rep. Tim Burchett & Rep. Matt Gaetz appear to have attended a classified UAP briefing on a military base in Florida on February 21st.
They were apparently shown images of 4 UFOs with abnormal heat signatures flying closely next to a U.S. military aircraft.#ufotwitter #ufo #uap pic.twitter.com/j4h9bqf7q5
— UAP James (@UAPJames) March 11, 2023
Rep. Burchett then said in another interivew that he knew what briefing Gaetz was talking about.
Rep. Mike Waltz: ‘You Can’t Deny This Stuff’
https://twitter.com/MetaStudioLogic/status/1667537590151696384
Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida said in an interview with Florida’s Voice: “You can’t deny this stuff. This is real hard data that is showing objects that are doing things that cannot be explained. And it’s that data we’ve demanded the intelligence community and the Pentagon analyze and come back to Congress to explain.”
Rep. Luna: ‘The Status Quo by the U.S. Government Has Been to Leave the American Public in the Dark’ About UAPs
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (a Republican from Florida) told the Liberation Times: “For decades, many Americans have had reasonable concerns and questions about occurrences of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) in our airspace…The status quo by the U.S. government has been to leave the American public in the dark regarding information about UAPs, evidenced by the extreme and unnecessary over-classification of UAP data dating back to Project Blue Book..
She added: “This is an issue that matters to many Americans, and I look forward to bringing more government transparency to light.”
Rep. Moskowitz: ‘The American People Have a Right to Know’
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat from Florida, said he supported having a hearing about UAPs, Outkick reported.
“I think there are important questions to ask, and by the way, if there are things the federal government is holding back from the American people, the American people have a right to know,” Moskowitz told NewsNation in an interview.
Sen. Rubio Says Others Have Verified Grusch’s Claims
Sen. Marco Rubio has been a strong advocate for UAP disclosure. At first, Rubio just sent form letters in response and didn’t share any tweets or other public statements after Grusch came forward. But on June 26, he spoke with NewsNation and revealed that multiple other people, some with high levels of government clearance, had come forward privately to Congress and verified Grusch’s claims with their own firsthand accounts. You can learn more about what Rubio said in our story here.
Sen. Schatz Is Unsure
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, told Wired that Grusch’s claims could be a “game changer or it could be a crank.” At this point, he’s unsure about the “breathtaking” allegations.
Rep. Moolenaar Focused on China in His Respose
On Twitter, user @MoranMarshall shared with Post Apocalyptic a letter they received from Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan. The letter discussed the UFOs that were shot down in February, but it was sent on June 23, 2023, after David Grusch’s whistleblower claims went public.
https://twitter.com/MoranMarshall/status/1672385534272892929
Stuart told Post Apocalyptic that he received this message after he “wrote to him to press the government on the new UAP/UFO disclosures that were happening.” Stuart added: “We need transparency. Please don’t blame China, these are crafts of NON-HUMAN origina…”
Moolenaar’s letter focused quite a bit on the Chinese surveillance balloon and President Biden’s response. As for the other three objects, Moolenaar wrote: “I hope all of them will be recovered and identified. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what they were and what they were doing. I will continue to be in contact with officials at the Department of Defense and urge them to make more information available as soon as they can…”
Stuart also tweeted, sharing: “i wrote to him urging the disclosure of the evidence that the whistleblowers are presenting for the betterment of all mankind, so people everywhere can contribute and benefit.”
Sen. Barrasso Said the Claims Were Refuted, According to a Redditor
On Reddit, u/FIX-THE-FPS-FREEZES shared a letter they had received from Sen. John Barrasso, where the Senator said that David Grusch’s claims had been refuted. However, the Redditor later deleted their post after getting pushback that their headline didn’t completely match the Senator’s letter.
Neuroguy on Twitter saved the email response and tweeted it.
💥💥BREAKING
Senator John Barrasso @SenJohnBarrasso claims David Grusch is a liar.
PLEASE EVERYONE CONTACT @SenJohnBarrasso pic.twitter.com/te1rv3gTon
— Dr. Disclosure (@Docneuroeo) June 21, 2023
The letter reads: “On June 5, 2023, an Air Force veteran and former intelligence official claimed that the United States has been collecting intact extraterrestrial objects. His claims have been refuted by the Department of Defense. NASA’s unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) panel also stated int their first public hearing on May 31, 2023, that they have no discovered any evidence of extraterrestrial life…”
While Barrasso has not publicly confirmed that this letter was from him, there are several logical holes in his response. First, the DoD’s response was carefully worded. As reported by Fox News, Susan Gough of the Department of Defense said: “To date, AARO has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”
However, Grusch’s entire claim is that AARO is being locked out of knowing anything about the UAP retrieval program, in part because its classification level is lower than the program. And NASA’s task force meeting admitted that they hadn’t even seen the anomalous sightings that AARO was investigating.
It’s likely that more responses will be coming in over time, but this is a roundup of who has spoken out so far. You can see a list of who vouched for Grusch in our story here.
This work by Stephanie Dwilson is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
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