A congressional hearing on alleged government encounters with UFOs has led both Democrats and Republicans to call for more transparency about unidentified anomalous phenomena.
United States Air Force veteran David Grusch testified to members of the House Oversight Committee in late July that "the U.S. government is operating with secrecy—above Congressional oversight" over Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
Following the hearing, it was claimed on social media that the committee also heard excerpts from a letter, written by aliens, warning Earth's citizens about climate destruction.
The Claim
A tweet by user @BernieSpofforth, posted on July 31, 2023, viewed 972,000 times, claimed that the "Congressional hearing on Aliens" included a letter being read out from aliens "saying our air and water is contaminated."
Spofforth tweeted "CLIMATE DOOM! - Congressional hearing on Aliens.
"So ... Aliens wrote a letter saying our air & water is contaminated.
"Seriously this is the worst bit of incoherent nudging ever seen. Even the media know they can't pull this off!
"Madness reigns 🤡"
The Facts
This tweet, claiming that a "letter" from aliens was read out during the recent House Oversight Committee hearing is wrong for a number of reasons.
First, the footage shown is not from the congressional hearing. It was filmed 10 years ago, at the "Citizen Hearing on UFO Disclosure," held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.
As was reported by The Washington Post at the time, the event was not a real congressional hearing.
"For a stipend of $20,000, six former members of Congress are sitting at the National Press Club and listening to 30 hours of testimony about UFOs," The Post reported.
Footage from that event, which was used in the clip on Twitter can be viewed in the YouTube clip below (from around 57:00 onward).
The man in the video is Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian minister of defense, who attempted to bring attention to the notion of the existence of alien life. Hellyer died in 2021.
The "letter" that Hellyer is reading is in fact, an extract from a 2006 book called The Keepers: An Alien Message for the Human Race by Jim Sparks, a collection of alleged encounters and communications with alien life that the author chronicled.
The full passage Hellyer reads from in The Keepers is based on one such encounter in which Sparks wrote that aliens said: "Your air, your water, are contaminated."
"Your forests, jungles, trees and plant life are dying. There are several breaks in your food chain. you have an overwhelming amount of nuclear and biological weapons, which include nuclear and biological contamination.
"Your planet is overpopulated."
Crucially, the video is not from the hearing, which did not feature a recital of an alien communication, no matter the topic.
The Ruling
False.
The video is not taken from the congressional hearing on UFOS held in July. It was filmed 10 years ago, as part of a "Citizen Hearing" attended by former members of Congress reportedly paid to be there.
The man in the video, Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian defense minister who advocated that the existence of alien life was real, died in 2021.
The "letter" as it's described in the tweet, is an extract from a book called The Keepers, a collection of what the author, Jim Sparks, said were encounters with alien life.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
