On March 27, 2026, Vice President JD Vance sat down with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson and said something that sent a jolt through the UAP disclosure community – not because it was new, but because of who was saying it and what it signals about the forces working against transparency.
“I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”
The vice president – the man who holds one of the highest security clearances in the country and has pledged to “get to the bottom of” classified UFO files – just told the American public that the explanation for unidentified aerial phenomena isn’t technological, isn’t extraterrestrial, and doesn’t require investigation. It’s theological.
He’s not the first person in Washington to say this. He won’t be the last. And the pattern of where this idea comes from, and what it’s been used to justify, deserves close attention.
What Vance Said
The exchange came during a wide-ranging interview on The Benny Show. Johnson asked whether the administration would release UFO files. Vance said they were “working on it,” then pivoted to his personal fascination.
“I’m obsessed with this. I’ve already had a couple of times where I’ve said, ‘All right, we’re going to Area 51, we’re going out to New Mexico, we’re going to sort of get to the bottom of this.’ And then the timing of the trip didn’t work out. But trust me, anybody who’s curious about this – I’m more curious than anybody. And I’ve got three years at the very tippy top of the classification. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
Johnson pressed for a follow-up: “So you think they’re demons?”
Vance doubled down:
“Celestial beings who fly around who do weird things to people – I think that the desire to describe everything celestial, everything as otherworldly, to describe it as aliens… I mean every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there. And there are things that are very difficult to explain.”
“When I hear about extra natural phenomenon, that’s where I go to: The Christian understanding that there’s a lot of good out there, but there’s also some evil out there. And I think that one of the devil’s great tricks is to convince people he never existed.”
A Familiar Argument – From Inside the Pentagon
Vance’s remarks might sound like an offhand theological musing. They’re not. The “demons” theory has a specific and documented history inside the U.S. defense establishment – and it has been used, repeatedly, as justification for shutting down UAP research.
Luis Elizondo, the former head of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), has recounted in detail how this played out. In his book Imminent, Elizondo describes how Devon Woods, a senior official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told him flatly that UAP phenomena were “demonic” and that “there is no reason we should be looking into this.”
Woods wasn’t alone. Elizondo has described a faction within the Pentagon that viewed UAP investigation as spiritually dangerous – not a national security priority, but a theological transgression. These officials didn’t dispute that something was being observed. They simply argued it shouldn’t be studied.
This wasn’t a fringe opinion held by a single eccentric. Elizondo has characterized it as a significant institutional barrier – one of several reasons he eventually left the Pentagon and went public about the program’s existence.
The pattern is consistent: when the evidence points somewhere uncomfortable, the demons theory provides an off-ramp. It reframes physical phenomena – radar returns, infrared signatures, pilot testimony, recovered materials – as something that doesn’t require a material explanation. And crucially, it reframes investigation as something that shouldn’t happen.
Vance Is Not Alone
The vice president’s comments land in an environment where the religious interpretation of UAP is gaining ground among prominent conservative figures.
Tucker Carlson has been the most vocal. In a 2024 appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Carlson declared that UFOs are “spiritual beings”:
“If they are spiritual beings – which I believe they are – it’s binary, they’re either team good or team bad. And I think some of them are bad.”
In March 2026 – the same month as Vance’s interview – Carlson went further, claiming a demon physically attacked him in his sleep, leaving “claw marks” on his body. He said the experience drove him to read Scripture intensively.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who chairs the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, has adopted a different but related framing. In March 2026, Luna said the Trump administration is “very serious” about releasing UFO files:
“I think you’re going to get a lot of cool stuff, but I don’t think that there’s going to be ever the full admission… They’ll release it, but they’re not going to tell you what to make of it.”
But in separate comments, Luna described the phenomena as “inter-dimensional beings” that can “move outside known dimensions” – a framing that, while not explicitly demonic, moves the conversation away from physical craft and physical evidence.
Even Elon Musk, speaking at Davos in January 2026, offered a variation that served the same function – not religious, but equally dismissive:
“We have 9,000 satellites up there, and not once have we had to maneuver around an alien spaceship. I don’t know. Bottom line is, we need to assume that life and consciousness is extremely rare.”
Meanwhile, the Evidence Keeps Piling Up
While the theological debate plays out in podcast studios, the empirical record continues to grow.
David Grusch, the former intelligence officer who testified before Congress in July 2023, told Bret Baier on Fox News in February 2026 that the U.S. government has “recovered the vehicles” with “physical proof.” He said he personally reviewed photographic evidence of recovered non-human remains. He named former Vice President Dick Cheney as the closest thing these legacy programs had to central leadership.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
View full profile →Christopher Mellon, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, called the Trump administration’s directive to release UFO files “a historic development” – while cautioning that the bureaucratic machinery of classification could still slow-walk the process into irrelevance.
And Elizondo himself, in a February 2026 interview with Glenn Beck, warned that the window for disclosure is narrowing. China and Russia both have active UAP research programs. The observed capabilities – hypersonic speeds, transmedium travel, no visible propulsion – have been documented by Navy pilots, radar operators, and infrared systems for decades.
“What you don’t want to do is allow ourselves to get to a point of what we call strategic surprise.”
Elizondo has pointed out the logical problem with any non-physical explanation: the U.S. military’s own sensor systems have recorded these objects. Radar doesn’t detect theology. Infrared cameras don’t image metaphors. The USS Nimitz encounter, the Roosevelt battle group incidents, the 757 cases in AARO’s 2024 annual report – these are instrumented observations with physical data.
The File Release That Hasn’t Happened
Vance’s comments came as the Trump administration’s promised UFO file release remains unfulfilled. President Trump announced the directive on February 20, 2026, via a Truth Social post directing the Secretary of Defense and other agencies to “begin the process of identifying and releasing” UFO-related records.
But nearly six weeks later, no files have been released. No executive order with binding deadlines has been issued. The administration registered the federal domains aliens.gov and alien.gov in mid-March – both currently empty. A White House deputy press secretary responded to questions about the sites with “Stay tuned!” and an alien emoji.
The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) said it is “working in close coordination with the White House and across federal agencies” on the release, but offered no timeline. Congressional observers have noted that the directive lacked the binding authority of Trump’s January 2025 JFK files order, which included specific deadlines.
The contrast is worth noting: the vice president has time to explain on a podcast why UFOs are demons. He has not had time to visit Area 51 – or, apparently, to push for the file release he says he’s “obsessed” with.
What This Means for Disclosure
The “demons” theory isn’t just a quirky personal belief. When it comes from the vice president of the United States, it carries institutional weight. It signals to the defense establishment that the religious interpretation has top-level cover – the same interpretation that was used for years to obstruct research from within.
Consider the timeline:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Elizondo leaves Pentagon, reveals religious obstruction of UAP research |
| July 2023 | Grusch testifies before Congress about recovered non-human craft |
| 2024 | Tucker Carlson tells Rogan UFOs are “spiritual beings” |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Trump pledges to release UFO/alien files |
| Feb 2026 | Elizondo warns “the clock is ticking” on disclosure |
| Feb 2026 | Grusch tells Baier that Trump is “very well informed” |
| Mid-March 2026 | Trump admin registers aliens.gov (site remains empty) |
| March 2026 | Carlson claims a demon attacked him in his sleep |
| March 2026 | Luna says admin “very serious” but warns of limited disclosure |
| March 27, 2026 | Vance tells Benny Johnson UFOs are “demons” |
The disclosure community has spent years building a case on evidence: sensor data, whistleblower testimony, congressional hearings, photographic evidence, FOIA documents, and inspector general complaints. The response from a growing segment of Washington isn’t to engage with the evidence. It’s to reframe the entire question as one that doesn’t belong in the realm of evidence at all.
Demons can’t be studied. Demons can’t be FOIA’d. Demons don’t show up on radar – except, of course, these objects do.
Sources: Mediaite · Newsweek · Washington Examiner · Charisma Magazine · CNN · The Guardian · Newsweek (Luna) · Patheos · IBTimes