Matt Gaetz said on The Benny Show an Army source described alleged alien-human breeding programme/ Image: Screengrab Benny Johnson X A former US congressman who was once in line to become the country’s top law enforcement official has claimed that a serving member of the military briefed him on what he described as a secret programme involving aliens and abducted humans, a claim he says was made to him directly, in person, while he was still in office.Matt Gaetz, who was nominated by Donald Trump as attorney general in 2024 before withdrawing amid allegations that he had sexual relations with a 17-year-old, allegations he has denied and for which he has not been charged, made the remarks during a March 31 appearance on The Benny Show, hosted by Benny Johnson, a prominent right-wing influencer.
What Gaetz says he was told
Gaetz said the interaction took place at his office in Crestview, Florida, and described it as a direct briefing from a uniformed member of the US Army, delivered in a setting he characterised as non-classified but attended by members of his staff. He said a “senior enlisted” service member came to him with information about “the locations of hybrid breeding programs,” describing a system in which, as he put it, “captured aliens were breeding with humans to create some hybrid race that could engage in intergalactic communication.” According to Gaetz, the same individual told him that the human participants in the alleged programme had been taken from “war zones” and “even the caravans of migrants,” and that the activities were not confined to a single site. He said he was told there were “between six and 12 locations around the country where this happened,” and that the person briefing him wanted congressional intervention, specifically, coordinated visits by lawmakers to those locations so that any alleged operations could not be moved or concealed. That step, Gaetz said, never materialised. “It was a physical impossibility to get members of Congress” to appear at multiple sites at the same time, he said, and as a result, no such effort was carried out. He also made clear that he did not verify the claims presented to him.Also read: US congressman says UFO secrets he knows could keep Americans ‘up at night’ and ‘country unglued’
Political and personal backdrop
Gaetz’s comments come against the backdrop of a political career that has included both prominence and controversy. He was nominated in November 2024 to serve as attorney general under Trump, a role that would have placed him at the head of the Department of Justice. He later withdrew from consideration as scrutiny intensified over allegations involving a minor. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges have been brought against him. More recently, he has also distanced himself at times from elements of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, including criticism of the conflict involving Iran. Speaking at CPAC, he warned that sending ground troops would make the US “poorer and less safe” and said he was “not sure we’d end up killing more terrorists than we create.”
How the claim is being received
The interview quickly circulated online, drawing a largely sceptical response. On X, one user questioned whether the clip itself was authentic, writing: “@grok is this interview ai?” Others dismissed the claim outright, with one post reading: “Just in time for ‘April Fools’.” Several responses focused on the absence of supporting evidence. “Extraordinary claim with zero credible evidence, no verified reports support this, so it should be treated as unproven and highly questionable,” one user wrote, while another commented: “Aliens breeding with humans… and somehow people take this seriously in 2026?” Some reactions referenced Gaetz’s previous political standing. “And to think this guy was very close to be the United states general attorney,” one user wrote, while another added: “How do you go from rising star Congresmen, to podcaster conspiracy theorist so fast?” Others drew comparisons to well-known conspiracy figures. “Is he trying to out play the satire image of Alex Jones?” one user asked, while another wrote: “This might be the dumbest conspiracy theory I’ve heard so far and I’m a conspiracy theorist.”
What is confirmed, and what is not
Gaetz’s account rests primarily on what he says he was told during that meeting. He has not provided documents, names, locations or any independent corroboration to support the existence of such a programme, and has acknowledged that he did not verify the information himself.No US military or government body has confirmed the existence of any programme involving alien-human hybridisation or the abduction of civilians for such purposes. Publicly acknowledged investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena have documented unexplained sightings, but have not established evidence of extraterrestrial involvement.The only apparent public support for Gaetz’s claims has come from Dr. Steven Greer, a retired emergency physician turned UFO researcher, who responded to the remarks during an appearance on the same programme on April 4. Greer said, “We have captured those bodies, some living, some dead,” and added that “there are some gruesome programs being run by military, where they’ve been trying to combine DNA of these creatures with humans, and they come out with these monstrous looking things that are used to abduct people.”He further claimed that “everyone’s hearing about alien abductions is not the extraterrestrials doing it. It’s a covert human program. We know this and we can prove it,” framing the issue as what he described as “the biggest scandal in the history of the United States.”Greer has also alleged that a covert, unsupervised group has reverse-engineered extraterrestrial vehicles and that a vast cover-up exists around such technologies. He is known for founding the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and The Disclosure Project, and has long advocated for the disclosure of classified information on UFOs and extraterrestrial contact.His claims have drawn both support and significant criticism over the years, and, like Gaetz’s account, have not been independently verified or confirmed by any official evidence.For now, the claims remain unsubstantiated and rest on assertions that have not been corroborated by government bodies or the broader scientific community.