Members of Congress ‘had UFO sightings of their own’: Rep. Burchett

A former Air Force officer and intelligence official told Congress Wednesday he believes the government is hiding captured UFOs — and claimed he could not reveal whether anyone was murdered to keep the secret contained.

David Grusch, a former national reconnaissance officer representative for the Pentagon’s Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force, made the startling remarks during a bombshell House Oversight subcommittee hearing on UAP – Pentagon jargon for UFOs.

Asked whether the government has possession of such vehicles, Grusch replied: “Absolutely.”

“Based on interviewing over 40 witnesses over four years and where, I know the exact locations [the UFOs are kept,]” he said. “And those locations were provided to the inspector general.”

Grusch further claimed some of the UFO artifacts included “non-human spacecraft” – one of the first times a witness has testified under oath to Congress about possible extraterrestrial life in the universe – and refused to say whether anyone had been killed over UAPs.

“I have to be careful asking that question,” he said, suggesting that he may be able to reveal more in a classified setting.

However, Grusch did allege that he had “personal knowledge of people who’ve been harmed or injured in efforts to cover up or conceal these extraterrestrial technology.”

Asked whether he had faced “any retaliation or reprisals” himself, Grusch said he had, but declined to say more citing an investigation underway on his behalf.

“It was very brutal and very unfortunate, some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally, to be quite frank,” he said.

During her opening remarks, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) alleged that the panel was prevented by the Pentagon from getting fully informed about the phenomenon.

“We were even denied access to a classified briefing in a SCIF prior to this hearing due the amount of hoops that we had to jump through to grant temporary clearance to witness Grusch who has knowledge of classified information,” she said.

“We will hear from people who have had personal sightings, rather than Pentagon bureaucrats who have always been sent to stonewall our investigation,” Luna added.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also criticized the denial of a classified briefing, highlighting that Grusch said he could not provide detailed information on the types of aircraft collected, when the alleged UFO recovery program began, or the identities of the 40 individuals he has interviewed.

“I think it’s time for this country to take back our country. We need to tell the folks at the Pentagon they work for US government, we don’t work for them,” he said. “This is an issue of government transparency. We can’t trust a government that does not trust its people.”

Luna agreed, saying: “It is time to have an open minded discussion on this topic, to hear the evidence and understand the magnitude of what this means — not just for our nation but for humanity.”

Burchett went so far as to say “the devil has been in our way” throughout Congress’ efforts to dig into the topic, saying the executive branch had blocked legislative efforts to ensure lawmakers were aware of UAP sightings.

“We’ve run into roadblocks from members from the intelligence community, the Pentagon. I proposed legislation to go in the FAA reauthorization that just said if an airline pilot has a sighting, that when he makes that report to the FAA, that it would come to Congress,” he said. “But I was told that the intelligence community did not like that and the bill was — even the amendment was not even heard in committee.”

It’s not just military soldiers spotting unidentified flying objects, members of Congress are too, according to Burchett.

“I’d also like to thank the members of Congress who have supported our efforts to make this hearing happen,” the Republican said in his opening remarks.

“Some have even confided in me that they’ve had UFO sightings of their own. Those members of course, some of them, wish to remain anonymous and I’ll keep it that way.”

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), the subcommittee chair, noted during his opening remarks, that even former presidents claimed to have spotted bizarre objects in the sky.

“I also want to point out in 1966 President Gerald Ford, claimed to have seen a UFO and in 1969 in Georgia, Jimmy Carter claimed to have seen a UFO,” he said.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said the Wednesday hearing was overdue, stating that “many Americans are deeply interested in this issue and it shouldn’t take the potential of non-human origin to bring us together.”

“For decades, many Americans have been fascinated by objects mysterious and unexplained. And it’s long past time that they got some answers,” he said. “The American public has a right to learn about technologies of unknown origins, non-human intelligence and unexplainable phenomena.”