Dr. Phil on UFO files: 'There has been a massive cover-up' | Reality Check episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 21, 2026 · 38 MIN

Dr. Phil on UFO files: 'There has been a massive cover-up' | Reality Check

from Reality Check with Ross Coulthart · host Ross Coulthart

In this episode of "Reality Check," Ross Coulthart sits down with Dr. Phil McGraw, the psychologist and television host the White House invited to review the latest tranche of UFO files before it reached the public. Dr. Phil explains why an administration weighing disclosure went looking for a trusted voice rather than an astrophysicist, and what changed his mind once he started reading the government's own words: from Lt. General Nathan Twining's 1947 assessment that the phenomenon was something real and not visionary, to the 1949 classified conference at Los Alamos convened over sightings above America's nuclear weapons sites, to the CIA's Robertson Panel strategy of publicizing cases already debunked and saying nothing about the ones that weren't, to the JANAP directives that put military and commercial pilots under threat of prison, heavy fines and the Espionage Act for describing what they saw.He tells Coulthart the imagery released so far is intentionally grainy, that far better gun camera video and radar tracks exist and that Reps. Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna are helping him press for their release. Drawing on close to 50 years of sitting with people through the worst losses a person can absorb, Dr. Phil rejects the argument that Americans are too fragile to be told, calling it a patronizing view, while arguing the government owes real support to the people who will struggle with it. Two things he says he will state with confidence to the American public: There has been a huge cover-up and there are things in our atmosphere we cannot explain and did not build. #DrPhil #UAP #UFOFilesCREDITSHost: Ross CoulthartExecutive Producer: Andy GipsonEditorial Producer: Meagan MedickSegment Producer: Christine JenkinsonAssociate Producer: Will TomasiResearch Producer: Rob JonesEditor: Kanyon LyonsOn "Reality Check," NewsNation Special Correspondent Ross Coulthart takes a fact-based approach to tackle everything from unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) to mysteries often missing from the headlines. More Reality Check: https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check-with-ross-coulthart/ Email your questions to [email protected] CHAPTERS:00 Intro0:52 The White House Approach, and Why They Came to Dr. Phil First2:14 Seventy One Percent Believe, But an Abstract Nod Isn't Confirmation3:38 Trump, the Religious Liberty Commission, and Being a Trusted Voice5:04 "Too Drunk to Fish," and the Credible Pilots Nobody Heard From6:31 "It's Like a PSYOP," and the Part That Infuriated Him7:29 The President Treated Like a Temp Employee8:49 The Executive Order, and the Case for Disclosing in Steps10:21 Hiding It in Plain Sight, Buried in a Sea of Minutiae11:09 Two Things the Fourth Tranche Settled for Him12:02 Read What They Wrote When They Didn't Think Anyone Would12:55 Twining in 1947, Los Alamos in 1949, Pantex Now14:12 The Robertson Panel Playbook, and JANAP 14615:44 Redactions and Cherry Picking, Why He Isn't Naive About This Release17:00 David Grusch, and What a Retrieval Program Would Mean17:49 Presence, Contact, Dialogue, Intent, the Steps Nobody Breaks Down19:16 Two and a Half Million Years to Andromeda, or They Packed a Hell of a Lunch20:35 A Pilot Since Sixteen, and Why He Thinks the Videos Are Intentionally Grainy21:26 Burchett, Luna, and the Push for Better Images22:07 Forty Thousand Miles an Hour, a Ninety Degree Turn, and Seven and a Half G's23:18 "A Very Patronizing View," Is America Ready to Be Told?24:10 Fifty Years of Loss, and the Best Predictor of Future Behavior27:26 What Happens When One Voice Moves Mainstream America?28:05 Follow the Money, Follow the Power29:41 The Technology That Could Wipe Out Oil, Gas, and Nuclear31:33 What He Would Tell President Trump32:31 "I Don't Want to Create a Fauci Moment"34:27 Can the Public Handle Big D Disclosure?36:23 "What an Exciting Time to Be Alive"37:50 "We Can't Let Stigma Put a Muzzle on Us"

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Dr. Phil on UFO files: 'There has been a massive cover-up' | Reality Check

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