A bizarre second-hand story alleged that President Donald Trump believes aliens are real and they live in the oceans.
Jack Osbourne, a television personality, recently claimed that an unnamed friend who speaks regularly with Trump asked the president about UFOs. His unnamed friend alleged that the president said, “We have no idea what they are, but they’re in the ocean.”
But Trump has not publicly confirmed making the comment. There is also no recording, transcript, photograph, official document, or independent witness to confirm the claim..
At present, the story remains a hearsay passed to Osbourne by an unnamed source, who claimed to have communicated with Trump on a regular basis. However, it has not stopped the claim from spreading rapidly through UFO circles.
And the timing is perfect for conspiracy theorists and UFO fans to go into a frenzy.
Congressional scrutiny about reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) has heightened. And former Navy officials and lawmakers have continued to discuss mysterious objects reportedly spotted in and around the world’s oceans.
Trump himself has also shown renewed interest in the UFO controversy, ordering the release of government material concerning UAPs and extraterrestrial life.
Unfortunately, curiosity is not confirmation. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which is tasked to investigate UAP reports, has repeatedly said it has found no verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology or beings.
There is no denying that much of Earth’s oceans remain unexplored. Vast areas of the deep sea remain difficult to reach, observe, and map. Strange creatures, unexplained geological formations, and bizarre natural phenomena continue to show up in places that humans have barely seen.
Then there are the underwater UFO reports. Some witnesses have described objects apparently moving at extraordinary speeds underwater or seemingly transitioning between the atmosphere and the ocean, a phenomenon described as “transmedium” activity.
The 2004 USS Nimitz encounter, for instance, involving the now-famous “Tic Tac” object, remains one of the most heavily discussed cases. But a crucial distinction must be made between unexplained and extraterrestrial.
So far, no publicly verified investigation has produced an alien spacecraft, biological specimen, piece of extraterrestrial technology or other physical evidence. What investigators have discovered is a range of conventional possibilities, including sensor glitches, marine life, human-made aircraft and vessels, balloons and unusual natural phenomena.
Although some cases remain unresolved, it does not mean aliens did it. That simply means investigators do not have the answer yet.
If aliens are hiding underwater, how have they stayed hidden?
This is where the ocean-alien theory runs into another problem of plausibility. The seas may feel like Earth’s last frontier, but they are hardly unobserved.
The underwater world is noisy with human activity, including navies with their sophisticated sonar systems, and commercial vessels cross the oceans. Scientific organizations also deploy sensors and submersibles, while undersea cables crisscross the seabed. If that is not enough, satellites could help monitor the surface for changes and activity.
It would require a great deal of concealment for an advanced extraterrestrial civilization beneath the oceans to avoid detection. That means they would have to be technologically advanced enough to remain invisible, yet careless enough to repeatedly appear on sensors and in witness reports.
An unidentified object was spotted hovering motionless above the ocean's surface.
— UFO mania (@maniaUFO) August 20, 2026
pic.twitter.com/SIjF1dCiFn
Could an underwater civilization have evolved here?
Terrestrial technology has advanced to a point where humans could exploit fire, metallurgy, controlled electricity, and increasingly complex industrial processes. But the underwater environment remains a formidable challenge.
Earth’s most intelligent marine animals, such as octopuses, dolphins and whales, have demonstrated extraordinary cognitive abilities. But none of them has developed an industrial civilization.
That doesn’t mean an aquatic technological civilization is impossible. But it does show how bizarre the claim would be.
The deep sea really is unexplored — but that’s not proof of aliens
UFO enthusiasts can easily argue that humans know so little about the deep ocean. Most parts of the seafloor are still poorly mapped at high resolution. Direct visual observation of the seafloor has covered only a small part of the total area. That alone leaves enough room for speculation.
But “we haven’t explored it all” does not mean “aliens are living there.” Unexplained or unknown does not automatically mean that extraterrestrials exist.
The latest UFO rumor follows an old pattern
The claim surrounding Trump is an old pattern of an extraordinary second-hand story emerges, UFO enthusiasts seize it, social media amplifies it, turning speculation to make it sounds like an established fact.
It does not mean every underwater UAP report should be dismissed. Quite the contrary, because unexplained observations deserve serious investigation, especially when they involve military aircraft, national security, or a potentially important scientific phenomena.
There is no evidence so far that advanced extraterrestrials are living in the oceans. If anything, the claim is either a fascinating mystery or a tantalizing rumor.
