Tag: transparency

Trump Promises Major UFO File Releases ‘Very, Very Soon’ After Finding ‘Many Interesting Documents’

President Donald Trump teased the imminent release of government documents on UFOs and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) during a speech on Friday at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona.

Trump said he recently directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to begin declassifying the files.

“I recently directed the Secretary of War … to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena,” Trump told the crowd. “And I figured this was a good crowd because I know you people–– you’re really into that, I don’t know if I am.”

The president added that the review process is already well underway and has uncovered notable material.

“This process was well underway, and we’ve found many interesting documents, I must say, and the first releases will begin very, very soon,” the president stated.

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Pentagon’s UFO Office to Be Eliminated Under New Bill

Representative Tim Burchett moved to dismantle the Pentagon office that investigates UFOs under legislation introduced this week.

The bill written by the Tennessee Republican would eliminate the Defense Department’s All‑domain Anomaly Resolution Office and redistribute its responsibilities across the Pentagon, while also prohibiting the creation of any future office that holds centralized authority over investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), often referred to as UFOs.

Newsweek reached out to Burchett’s office and the Pentagon for comment via email on Wednesday afternoon.

Why It Matters

Burchett has been a long-time advocate for transparency around the U.S. government’s investigations into UFOs, and has claimed that a multi-decade cover-up has been perpetrated by federal agencies. A recent spate of disappearances of people linked to UFO research has heightened scrutiny around the topic.

Burchett’s bill aims to terminate the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which sits within the Department of Defense, currently styled as the Department of War by the Trump administration.

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Congress demands Dept of War release 46 secret UFO videos: ‘You’re gonna see some weird f–king s–t’

Members of Congress are demanding 46 military videos from the Department of War which insiders say offer convincing proof that advanced, non-human craft are operating on Earth.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) requested the long list of explosively titled files on Wednesday, which include 45 previously unreleased military clips.

The presence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena “in and around the sensitive airspaces of US military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness,” according to the April 1 letter addressed to Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Those with knowledge of the long list of videos — which include titles like “Several UAP in vicinity of Columbus OH airport” and “UFOs in formation over Persian Gulf” — said the clips are shocking.

“You’re gonna see some weird f–king s–t,” a source who has viewed the videos told The Post.

The wildest clips include radar footage from thermal sensors, satellite images, and underwater photos of swarms of Unidentified Submerged Objects, the insider said.

One video shows several USOs going in and out of the water near a highly classified submarine, according to the source.

Some of the clips are in clear, full color, setting them apart from previously released footage. None show alien creatures.

One video on the list, titled “Syrian UAP instant acceleration, 2021,” was released on Feb. 3 by independent journalist Jeremy Corbell.

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Doug Ford launches war on transparency, shielding cabinet from Freedom of Information records

Ontarians, the government is coming for your right to know.

For years, freedom of information requests have been one of the few tools ordinary citizens, journalists, and researchers have had to hold power to account and peel back the curtain on government decisions.

That tool is now under direct assault.

Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Stephen Crawford confirmed the Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government’s plan to exempt the premier, his cabinet ministers and their staff from freedom of information laws entirely.

They’re selling it as “modernization” and a way to “protect against Chinese spies,” but it smells more like a brazen Big Government power grab to operate in total secrecy.

This comes hot on the heels of Premier Ford facing intense pressure to release his personal cellphone records — the same phone he uses for official business, with sources saying that his chief of staff and senior aides dodge government communication disclosure laws by utilizing encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal.

When access to information shrinks, accountability dies.

Journalists can’t break stories. Researchers can’t expose failures. Families and communities lose their voice against policies that reshape their lives.

This isn’t partisan; it affects everyone. The government may view transparency as a “burden,” but really, it’s the bare minimum in a democracy.

If the government is truly acting in the best interest of the public, then why make it harder for the public to see how they’re shaping policy and decisions?

The public has a right to know, and that means access that isn’t coming in the form of heavily redacted fragments months later.

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Transparency: Suing Schools That Hide Trans Kids’ Identities From Parents

A few weeks before Christmas in 2022, Amber Lavigne was cleaning her 13-year-old’s bedroom when she stumbled upon her daughter’s secret: a chest binder. She learned that Autumn had been wearing the garment, which girls use to flatten their breasts to achieve a masculine appearance, for about two months at school in Maine, where she had adopted a boy’s name, Leo, and was using he/him pronouns.

It was the first of two chest binders Lavigne found that had been provided to her eighth-grade daughter by a social worker at the Great Salt Bay Community School, according to a federal lawsuit Lavigne filed in 2023, which is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her lawsuit alleges that the public school not only aided and abetted Autumn’s gender transition but also hid the information from her parents.

“I think it’s important for parents to know that this is occurring in our public schools because I don’t think many parents believe that it’s as bad as it really is,” Lavigne said on a recent podcast. “When I was a kid, one of the first things I heard about adults is if any adult asks you as a child to keep a secret, there’s something wrong with that adult, and you need to come tell me immediately.”

“And now, I mean, it’s like we’re in upside-down land.”

The Maine lawsuit and others like it raise one of the most contentious issues in the broader conflict over transgender policies: whether a parent’s constitutional right to direct their children’s education and medical care extends to a circumstance that society has never grappled with until the past decade or so – a youth’s rejection of their biological sex, adoption of a new name and matching pronouns, and assertion of a new gender identity. And to what extent children who are transitioning or exploring gender options have the right to confidentiality if they worry about rejection and hostility at home.

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House kills effort to release all congressional sexual misconduct and harassment reports

The House on Wednesday voted to scuttle an effort by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace to shed more light on sexual misconduct allegations against members of Congress.

Mace, a conservative Republican who is running to be governor of South Carolina, forced a floor vote on her resolution directing the House Ethics Committee to make public all reports on allegations of congressional lawmakers and aides engaging in sexual misconduct or harassment.

But in a 357-65 vote, the House voted to refer the Mace resolution to committee — a move that effectively killed it.

The Ethics Committee had encouraged members to vote to refer the resolution. In a joint statement, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the committee argued it “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations” and would make it harder for the committee “to investigate and eliminate sexual misconduct in the House.”

“Here and elsewhere, perpetrators of sexual misconduct should never be shielded from responsibility for their misdeeds,” Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., said.

But, they added, “victims may be retraumatized by public disclosures of interim work product, excerpts of interview transcripts, and certain exhibits. And witnesses, who often only speak to the Committee confidentially or on condition of future anonymity, could fear retaliation if their cooperation is made public.”

Mace has spoken openly about her own experiences as a sexual assault survivor, and she’s been at the center of the fight over releasing the government’s Jeffrey Epstein files. She was one of just four House Republicans who teamed with Democrats on a discharge petition last fall that circumvented her own GOP leadership and eventually led to the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files.

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Zohran Mamdani Has Already Broken His Promise to Be Transparent

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire for using the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with elected officials while conducting government business.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani repeatedly promised his administration would be transparent. Yet, a Politico report revealed that the mayor used Signal from a personal phone number to communicate with elected officials and political strategists. In at least one of these exchanges, he discussed official city business.

Three people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO that as mayor Mamdani has used the encrypted messaging app to communicate with fellow elected officials and political advisers. In at least one instance, he’s discussed government business over the app, according to one of those people, who like the others, was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

POLITICO independently confirmed that Mamdani’s Signal account, registered to his personal cell phone number, remains active.

Norman Siegel, a veteran First Amendment lawyer who previously helmed the New York Civil Liberties Union, said mayors should never use Signal to communicate with other government officials as a rule of thumb — and that there’s another particularly important reason why Mamdani himself should avoid the app.

“With our new mayor, so much of what he’s articulating is a breath of fresh air,” Siegel said. ”I would urge him to not engage in Signal or similar kinds of applications that basically are meant to hide information and prevent the public from knowing the inner workings of government.”

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Report: Jasmine Crockett Event Escorts Atlantic Reporter Out, Campaign Called Capitol Police on CNN Journalist

National media coverage of Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Texas Senate campaign has led to direct confrontations with journalists, including the removal of an Atlantic reporter from a rally and a call to Capitol Police over a CNN reporter’s visit to a campaign office.

Semafor shared that security personnel directed Atlantic reporter Elaine Godfrey to leave a campaign rally for Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Texas on Monday. The outlet wrote that Godfrey has reported on Crockett in depth and that the coverage appeared to “frustrate” the congresswoman. Crockett had previously agreed to participate in a profile with the reporter last year, but later informed her that she was “shutting down the profile and revoking all provisions” before the story ran.

In a statement first shared with Semafor, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg remarked, “In a democracy, elected officials answer questions from the press rather than hide from them. This is completely unacceptable behavior by Rep. Crockett and her team, and needs to be addressed immediately.” 

Semafor further noted that earlier this month Crockett’s campaign contacted the U.S. Capitol Police regarding CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere, asserting he may have trespassed while attempting to visit a campaign office location. 

The developments raise broader questions about transparency and accountability given that Crockett is an elected official.  In December, after launching her Senate campaign, Crockett dodged questions during a CNN interview about her 2024 comments comparing Latino Trump supporters to slaves. When asked whether she believed Latino Trump voters had a “slave mentality,” she said that was not what the remarks meant but did not directly answer whether she stood by the comparison, instead arguing that some voters did not believe they were getting the policies they expected. 

The reported incidents also come as a recent poll found Crockett leading Talarico 56 percent to 44 percent, a 12-point advantage.

Democratic strategist James Carville expressed on the Politicon podcast that Crockett “violates the first rule of politics,” arguing that “in politics we always make it about the voters and never about yourself.” He added, “You listen to her talk. It’s a lot more about herself than it is to voters.” Carville further explained, “What wins elections is not sitting there talking about yourself,” and said winning elections is about “being part of framing issues and understanding where people are coming from,” concluding, “I don’t think Congressman Crockett is very good at that. I’ll be very frank.”

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Sources Blame Senator McConnell for UFO Transparency Law Failure

In 2025, Senator Mitch McConnell and his staff played a central role in the derailment of major Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) transparency legislation, according to sources who spoke to Liberation Times.

Sources identify Terry Carmack, McConnell’s chief of staff, as the staffer who they say pressed to have the UAP Disclosure Act (UAPDA) stripped from the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), after Representative Eric Burlison had submitted it as an amendment. 

One source claimed to Liberation Times, “Mitch has always worked against it [UAP disclosure] – he is the number one villain – number two is Terry.”

During a UAP hearing on 9 September 2025, convened by the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, Burlison said he had only recently learned that his UAPDA amendment had not made it into the House NDAA package. 

He suggested the decision was made on ‘germaneness’ grounds—House procedure for whether an amendment is considered relevant to the underlying bill—and he added in frustration:

“Just last night, I tried to get an amendment onto the National Defense Authorization Act that fit in the germaneness [meaning relevant to a subject under consideration] of that bill to have UAP disclosure, and conveniently it was named non-germane, mostly deemed by staff, not even an elected official – this is the kind of stuff we repeatedly see.”

In a recent appearance on the Psicoactivo Podcast, Burlison said there was a final, narrow window to add the UAPDA during ‘conference’—the closed-door phase when House and Senate negotiators reconcile their competing NDAA versions into a single compromise bill. 

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Judge Orders Release of Secret Tyler Robinson Hearing in Charlie Kirk Assassination Case, Transparency Wins Over Defense Objections

A Utah judge has ruled that transcripts and audio from a previously sealed hearing in the high-profile assassination case of conservative icon Charlie Kirk will be made public, albeit with redactions.

Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf announced during a Monday video hearing that a redacted transcript of an October 24 closed-door session will be released by the end of the following day, with audio potentially released within two weeks.

The decision comes amid intense scrutiny of the case against 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, who is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.

Kirk was struck by a single bullet to the neck while addressing thousands on campus as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He leaves behind his wife, Erika Kirk, and two young children.

Robinson faces seven felony charges, including aggravated murder, a capital offense in Utah, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, potentially by firing squad.

The secret October hearing focused on whether Robinson could appear in future court proceedings in civilian clothing and without visible restraints.

Judge Graf ultimately ruled that Robinson could wear street clothes but must remain shackled for security reasons, citing the “extraordinarily serious” nature of the charges.

Defense attorney Staci Visser has vigorously fought against media access, arguing that cameras and public scrutiny could prejudice potential jurors and create an unfair trial.

During earlier proceedings, Visser complained about media capturing images of Robinson in shackles, stating, “We don’t want the chaos that is out in the media in this courtroom,” according to a report from the New York Post.

However, Kirk’s widow, Erika, has been a strong advocate for openness, pushing for cameras in the courtroom to allow the public to see Robinson and counter any emerging conspiracy theories surrounding her husband’s murder.

Media coalitions, including local and national outlets, have also demanded greater access, requesting limited redactions to sealed materials and the opportunity to challenge future closures.

Robinson has appeared mostly via video or audio from jail. His first in-person court appearance earlier this month showed him calm, even chuckling with his lawyers, while family members attended in support.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 18, with ongoing debates over media coverage expected to continue into January.

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