Politics
Close encounters of congressional kind: Lawmakers struggle to grasp alleged 'interdimensional' nature of UFOs
What happened on the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas?
Does a mysterious, serpentine beast glide through the icy waters of Loch Ness?
Is there life on other planets?
Perhaps it’s only natural Congress is now probing whether the government is covering up possible evidence of UFOs.
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UFOs fly in the sky in this digitally generated image. A cohort of lawmakers suspects there is mounting information government agencies and the military aren’t playing straight with Capitol Hill about UFOs. (iStock)
The timing for this type of congressional inquest into this mystery is only right. Suspicions abound about the origins of the pandemic and conspiracies about the safety of vaccines. Couple that with skepticism about “the media,” the veracity of election returns and the government in general.
It’s not a stretch for people — and now lawmakers — to seek more answers about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), or UFOs.
Are we alone in the universe?
If not, some in Congress believe they’ve been left in the dark.
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A cohort of lawmakers suspects there is mounting information government agencies and the military aren’t playing straight with Capitol Hill. And if the truth is out there, they’re not getting it. That’s why there’s been an uptick of bipartisan hearings, briefings and legislation on UAPs over the past few years.
Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to wedge more transparency about UFO files into the annual defense policy bill late last year. But Schumer’s effort fell short.
Whatever people are seeing could be something from the great beyond. But there appears to be discomfort with federal officials divulging to lawmakers what they know. Hence, the disappointment from Schumer. And, frankly, there may be evidence that different “silos” of the federal government might not know exactly what other feds have.
Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, ex-Navy commander David Fravor and former U.S. intelligence officer David Grusch testified before the House of Representatives subcommittee focused on UFOs. (House subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs)
Granted, some things spotted in the skies might be special proprietary advanced technology different agencies or the intelligence community guard with the utmost confidentiality. And some of the stuff out there might just be unexplained.
No wonder this fuels conspiracy theories.
Such was the case when intelligence community Inspector General Thomas Monheim appeared for a closed-door, classified briefing for members of the House Oversight Committee late last week.
Some responses were predictable.
“Stonewalled once again,” complained Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
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“I just wasted time,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. “I’m more concerned than I was going in.”
“There’s a concerted effort to conceal as much information as possible,” alleged Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.
Lawmakers contend they aren’t hearing from people who really know what’s out there.
“They send us bureaucrats who don’t know on purpose,” said Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis.
But it might not be as sinister as some suspect.
U.S. Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray explains a video of an unidentified aerial phenomenon as he testifies before a House Intelligence Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol May 17, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“This meeting, unlike the one we had previously … actually moved the needle,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “This is the first time we kind of got a ruling on what the IG (inspector general) thinks of those claims.”
The “claims” Moskowitz speaks of stem from allegations former military intelligence officer and UAP whistleblower David Grusch made at an open House hearing last summer. Grusch contends the military has possession of a spacecraft from someplace else.
As well as something else.
“Do you believe our government has made contact with intelligent extraterrestrials?” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., asked at that hearing last July.
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“That’s something I can’t discuss in a public setting,” Grusch replied.
However, Grusch implied the U.S. may have some sort of life form that isn’t understood.
He termed them “biologics” at the summer hearing.
“Human or non-human biologics?” Mace asked.
“Non-human,” Grusch answered without hesitation.
Lawmakers demand transparency. But due to the sensitivity of the material, even they aren’t quite ready yet to publicly share what they’re learning.
“This is the first real briefing that we’ve had that we’ve now made — I would say — progress on some of the claims Mr. Grusch has made,” said Moskowitz.
As upset as he was in the briefing, Burchett signaled the same.
Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves spoke out about UFOs during a July hearing. (Getty Images / Fox News Digital)
“We got some pretty definitive stuff,” said Burchett. “It just verified what I thought.”
But it’s unclear what “definitive stuff” lawmakers heard about, let alone what was verified.
And we don’t know what Burchett “thought.”
Lawmakers are trying to dissect Grusch’s allegations.
Let’s step back for just a moment.
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As a longtime congressional observer, I have learned to pay attention to precisely what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says. Decades of reporting on McConnell taught me that you’ll know exactly what McConnell is planning to do or pondering if you filet his words with the perfection of a Ginsu knife.
Language and framing is paramount in politics.
The same is true in intelligence circles.
And, apparently, it’s true when it comes to explaining the unexplained. Like UFOs.
So let’s focus on the language.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., questioned Grusch about why he referred to potential “beings” as “non-human intelligence” and not “extraterrestrials.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called for greater transparency into UFOs, also called UAPs, and declared the IC is engaged in an effort to cover up information about the mysterious objects. (DoD | Getty Images)
At the 2023 hearing, Grusch suggested that what the government purportedly has is “very complex.”
After the House briefing last week, Luna noted that Grusch previously referred to such entities as “interdimensional.”
Yours truly asked Luna what “interdimensional” means when it comes to UAPs.
“Is this something that bends time and space,” this reporter asked Luna.
The Florida Republican didn’t respond directly.
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“He said interdimensional. He refused to use certain terms,” said Luna.
But back to our political message box analysis.
“I think it’s incredibly important to listen to the specific words that Grusch uses,” said Luna. “He never said extraterrestrial or alien.”
Could it be that “extraterrestrial” or “alien” mean specific things in the intelligence or military communities when trying to atomize what the government knows about UAPs?
Remains of an alleged “non-human” on display during a briefing on UFOs at the San Lazaro legislative palace in Mexico City, Mexico, Sept. 12, 2023. (Reuters/Henry Romero)
The term “interdimensional” pertains to the theory there are multiple dimensions of space and time, coexisting at once. One longstanding theory about UFOs is that what we may see on Earth isn’t even something from another planet or from far across the galaxy. Could it be something which broke across the plane of the dimension where we reside from its location in another dimension?
And you thought covering appropriations bills and the debt ceiling was mind bending.
These aren’t the things that are discussed regularly in Congress.
After the briefing, another reporter asked Raja Krishnamoorthi about Grusch’s claims of biologics.
“I can’t get into the specifics,” the Illinois Democrat replied. “I didn’t get the answers that I was hoping for.”
Fox asked Luna if maybe what they’re dealing with is so thorny and beyond the norm that conventional science and physics could struggle to grasp this.
A Fox News Digital-created UFO hot spot map based on information from the Department of Defense. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital based on AARO’s Data)
“I think we can understand it,” Luna said, without hinting at what lawmakers are trying to understand.
We’ve used this quotation before when writing about UFOs. But it bears repeating. In Shakespeare, Hamlet tells Horatio that “there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
In other words, there’s a panoply of possibilities people haven’t even fathomed yet.
The truth may be out there. But could it be impregnable for mere mortals?
Since moving back in, President Trump has significantly altered the “People’s House.” East Wing: gone. Oval Office: maximalized. Rose Garden: Mar-a-lago-ified. And the art? Lots of Trump.
Over the last year, The New York Times has captured at least nine paintings, posters, memes, and even a mugshot outside the Oval Office, that Mr. Trump added throughout the historic space.
Many of the selections are gifts from his supporters that highlight his political stature and reinforce the idea that Mr. Trump is invincible.
All presidents or first ladies add to and shuffle the art in the White House.
Barack Obama brought in abstract paintings.
George W. Bush decorated with images from his Texas roots.
In Mr. Trump’s first term, Melania Trump added a sculpture by Isamu Noguchi to the Rose Garden.
But never before has a sitting president displayed so much of his own image on the White House walls.
There is an “assertion of symbolic power that he wants to be on view essentially everywhere in that space,” said Cara Finnegan, a communication professor at the University of Illinois and author of “Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital.”
Even outside his current residence, Mr. Trump’s visage has proliferated in unexpected places — on banners hanging from government buildings, on National Parks passes and on social media, where he has been likened to a king. There has also been talk of a U.S. Treasury-minted coin with Mr. Trump on both sides.
Break with tradition
In recent decades, each president’s official White House portrait has been unveiled in a ceremony hosted by his successor.
The Carters hosted the Fords:
The Clintons hosted the Bushes:
And the Bushes hosted the Clintons:
The mood has often been lighthearted, with political party tensions melting away.
“I am pleased that my portrait brings an interesting symmetry to the White House collection,” George W. Bush joked in a ceremony hosted by the Obamas. “It now starts and ends with a George W.”
In a break with tradition, Mr. Trump did not schedule a ceremony for the unveiling of the Obamas’ portraits during his first term. Joe Biden later did, in a ceremony with a “Welcome Home!” vibe.
Typically, the latest available presidential portrait — often a realistic oil painting — hangs in the main entrance hall, where heads of state are welcomed.
The Obama portrait was in the spot until April …
… when Mr. Trump replaced it with this painting by Marc Lipp, a Florida pop artist, last April.
It depicts a striking moment in 2024 when a bloodied Mr. Trump pumped his fist in defiance, soon after being shot at by a would-be assassin during a campaign event.
Presidential historians have criticized the departure from convention.
Though Mr. Trump had a portrait commissioned for the Smithsonian’s American Presidents collection after his first term, none was confirmed for the permanent White House collection, and the White House said that this is where that portrait would have hung.
It is not totally unprecedented for a president to hang a painting of himself in the White House during his term. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland all did, according to the White House Historical Association. But more often than not, paintings of presidents and first ladies are hung after they have left office, historians said.
Flags, fists and faith from fans
In what has become something of a muse for many of the president’s artistic supporters, there are at least three other depictions of the fist-pumping scene in the White House.
The image “is in people’s garages when I walk around my neighborhood,” said Leslie Hahner, a Texas resident and communication professor at Baylor University, who studies visual political culture. “People love that image.”
Behind the Oval Office, one is in a small room that houses Trump merchandise:
Another was seen in the West Wing next to a “Still Life with Fruit” painting from 1850:
A statue form was spotted in the Oval Office:
The sculptor, Stan Watts, told a Utah TV station last year that he believes the president was saved by God that day. Many of Mr. Trump’s Christian supporters have echoed that sentiment.
At least two works by a self-described “Christian worship artist,” Vanessa Horabuena, are among Mr. Trump’s White House collection. He has called Ms. Horabuena, who often paints live in front of an audience, “one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world.”
In 2022, she painted a portrait of Mr. Trump at a booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference. When he saw it, he asked to meet her, Ms. Horabuena’s representative said. She most recently painted Mr. Trump live at a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-A-Lago.
One of her portraits was spotted in the Cabinet room in January.
It shows Mr. Trump, his eyes closed, in front of a mountain with a small cross on the top:
Ms. Horabuena hand-delivered it to the White House, according to her website.
Her other painting shows the president walking through a phalanx of flags. It was seen hanging prominently in a hallway leading to the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office:
“He’s positioned as this embattled warrior in a lot of these images,” Dr. Hahner said.
Historical figures Mr. Trump adulates are co-stars in some of the art he has chosen.
In an image created by the team of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump is pictured with William McKinley and Henry Clay, who, like the president, championed the use of tariffs:
Here, Mr. Trump is with two other Republican presidents, Abraham Lincoln (to whom he has compared himself) and Ronald Reagan (whom he is a fan of):
Titled “Great American Patriots,” the piece was painted by Dick Bobnick, an illustrator and Trump supporter from Minnesota. He said he mailed several prints to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but he had no idea his work was on the White House walls until a USA Today reporter called him about it.
“I could hardly believe it,” said Mr. Bobnick. (He said the print is now his best-seller.)
If not in portraits, Mr. Trump’s image is reflected on mirrors that he has added to the White House complex.
Two are in the Oval Office …
… making his image visible from the Resolute Desk.
The mirrors, the portraits and the gilding mimic the look of his properties, like Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.
“Trump is obsessed with his image,” Dr. Hahner said. “And he is so controlling of his image.”
Trump everywhere, all the time
One portrait seen in the White House has become a communication tool between Mr. Trump and his supporters in the real world.
This is his social media profile picture.
It was seen last October hanging between former first ladies Laura Bush and Barbara Bush in the now-demolished East Wing:
The portrait was painted by Lena Ruseva, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, who goes by the name MAGALANGELO. Mr. Trump invited her to his Bedminster golf club in 2022, and she gave it to him as a birthday gift.
“Every time social media or the news quotes the president and I see my artwork alongside it, I feel proud and grateful,” she said.
For a time, the same portrait hung next to Hillary Clinton, his political rival and a former first lady.
Supporters at that time lauded the placement on social media:
This example of a positive feedback loop demonstrates how Mr. Trump has used social media to redefine the presidency and presidential communication. Ms. Ruseva’s portrait was used on social media, hung up in the real world, then photographed and put back on social media by supporters who praised the president.
When Mr. Trump was elected to his first term in 2016, Dr. Hahner said that scholars referred to him as the first “meme president.”
Mr. Trump and his internet fans are used to a meme culture based on irony, and rehashing, repurposing and remixing existing images. The collection of White House artwork — much of it originating from his supporters — sits in an uncanny valley between realism and meme-ism, Dr. Hahner said.
Like memes that multiply, Mr. Trump’s image has been reproduced in other ways, outside the White House.
Last month, a huge banner with Mr. Trump’s face was draped outside the Justice Department headquarters …
Last year, similar signage was strung over the Labor Department building …
… and the Agriculture Department building (this one, alongside Lincoln).
At his request, Mr. Trump’s portrait was recently updated at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery:
Still, Mr. Trump wants more. The White House has suggested that the National Portrait Gallery add a separate section for Trump-related art.
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President Donald Trump on Monday sent an official notification to Congress about the U.S. strikes against Iran, in which he attempted to justify the military action in the now expanding conflict in the Middle East.
In a letter obtained by FOX News, Trump told Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that “no U.S. ground forces were used in these strikes” and that the mission “was planned and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties, deter future attacks, and neutralize Iran’s malign activities.”
This comes after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Saturday as part of Operation Epic Fury, triggering a response from Tehran and a wider conflict in the region. The strikes killed the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other military leaders.
President Donald Trump on Monday sent an official notification to Congress about the U.S. strikes against Iran. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump wrote that it is not yet possible to know the full scope of military operations against Iran and that U.S. forces are prepared to take potential further action.
“Although the United States desires a quick and enduring peace, not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that may be necessary,” Trump wrote. “As such, United States forces remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners, and ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States, its allies, and the international community.”
“I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests,” he added. “I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.”
A general view of Tehran with smoke visible in the distance after explosions were reported in the city, on March 2, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Trump said he was “providing this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution,” as some Republican and Democrat lawmakers attempt to restrain the president’s military action, which they affirm is unconstitutional without congressional approval.
The president also accused Iran of being among the largest state sponsors of terrorism in the world and purported that the “Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons,” even after the White House said in June that precision strikes at the time “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.
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A person holds an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian demonstrators protest against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
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“As I previously communicated to the Congress, Iran remains one of the largest, if not the largest, state-sponsors of terrorism in the world,” Trump said in the letter on Monday. “Despite the success of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER, the Iranian regime continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons. Its array of ballistic, cruise, anti-ship, and other missiles pose a direct threat to and are attacking United States forces, commercial vessels, and civilians, as well as those of our allies and partners.”
“Despite my Administration’s repeated efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior, the threat to the United States and its allies and partners became untenable,” he continued.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
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Northern California Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), whose congressional district was carved up in the redistricting ballot measures approved by voters last year, announced Monday that he would not challenge fellow Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove. Instead, he plans to run in the Democratic-leaning district where he resides.
“It’s true that I was fully prepared to run in [McClintock’s district], having tested the waters and with polls showing a favorable outlook in a ‘safe’ district. But doing what’s easy and what’s right are often not the same,” Kiley posted on the social media site X. “And at the end of the day, as much as I love the communities in [that] District that I represent now – and as excited as I was about the new ones – seeking office in a district that doesn’t include my hometown didn’t feel right.”
Kiley, 41, currently represents a congressional district that spans Lake Tahoe to Sacramento. He did not respond to requests for comment.
But after California voters in November passed Proposition 50 — a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional districts in an effort to counter Trump’s moves to increase the numbers of Republicans in Congress — Kiley’s district was sliced up into other districts.
As the filing deadline approaches, Kiley pondered his path forward in a decision that was compared by political insiders to the reality television show “The Bachelor.” Who would receive the final rose? McClintock’s new sprawling congressional district includes swaths of gold country, the Central Valley and Death Valley. The district Kiley opted to run in includes the city of Sacramento and the suburbs of Roseville and Rocklin in Placer County.
Kiley was facing headwinds because of the Republican institutional support that lined up behind McClintock, 69, who has been in Congress since 2009 and served in the state Legislature for 26 years previously. President Trump, the California Republican Party and the Club for Growth’s political action committee are among the people and groups who have endorsed McClintock.
Conservative strategist Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the state GOP, said he was thrilled by Kiley’s decision, which avoids a divisive intraparty battle.
“If you open up the dictionary and look for the word conservative, it’s a photo of Tom McClintock. He is the ideological leader of conservatives, not only in California but in Congress for many, many years,” Fleischman said, adding that the endorsements for McClintock purposefully came because Kiley was considering challenging him.
Kiley, who grew up near Sacramento, attended Harvard University and Yale Law School. A former Teach for America member, he served in the state Assembly for six years before being elected to Congress in 2022 with Trump’s backing. But he has bucked the president, notably on tariffs. He also unsuccessfully ran to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom during the 2021 recall, and has been a constant critic of the governor.
Kiley is now running in a Sacramento-area district represented by Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove). Democrats in the newly drawn district had a nearly 9-point voter registration edge in 2024. Bera is now running in the new version of Kiley’s district.
In Kiley’s new race, his top rival is Dr. Richard Pan of Sacramento, a former state senator and staunch supporter of vaccinations.
“Kevin Kiley can try to rebrand himself, but voters know his extreme record,” Pan said in a statement. “He has stood with Donald Trump 98% of the time and was named a ‘MAGA Champion.’ The people of this district deserve better than political opportunism disguised as moderation. This race is about who will actually fight for healthcare, public health, and working families. I’ve done that my entire career. Kevin Kiley has not.”
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