(NewsNation) — Congress members received a classified UAP briefing Friday, a meeting that has been a long time coming for UFO enthusiasts and investigators alike.
NewsNation special correspondent Ross Coulthart, the first to interview whistleblower David Grusch about his UFO claims over the summer, said it appears to have yielded “significant” results.
“While they weren’t able to cover all the complaint allegations made by David Grusch … what they were able to put to the inspector general, he apparently did confirm as credible and authentic,” Coulthart said Friday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “This is very, very significant. We’re talking here about grave allegations of illegality and criminality by a former, very senior, very well-informed intelligence official.”
Thomas A. Monheim, the inspector general of the intelligence community, briefed the House Oversight Committee after a surge in UAP interest last year.
According to briefing notes obtained by NewsNation, lawmakers asked about allegations raised by Air Force veteran David Grusch, who, as a whistleblower, shared exclusive details with NewsNation before testifying in Congress.
In his NewsNation interview, Grusch claimed the government has recovered nonhuman spacecraft of exotic origin. He claims he’s seen evidence of a secret UFO crash retrieval program.
Friday’s briefing allowed lawmakers to speak one-on-one with Monheim about those claims and what’s been done to investigate them further.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., believes Grusch is a credible witness.
“I believe he is telling the truth,” Luna said after the briefing.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said this briefing finally helped “move the needle.”
Coulthart said other whistleblowers have information and are waiting to speak.
“I think it’s very interesting to hear now that committee members are talking about the probability of further hearings,” Coulthart said.
Congress members have been seeking to get to the bottom of the claims and said at various times last year they believed the Pentagon was stonewalling them.
“The Pentagon keeps on putting out this very disingenuous assertion that (the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has) no credible evidence of extraterrestrial visitations to this planet,” Coulthart said. “We’re not talking about ETs. We’re talking about something else, a nonhuman intelligence.”
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is responsible for investigating UAP sightings and reports and has made some photos and videos available on its website. It was established in July 2022.
Coulthart argues the Pentagon needs to be more forthcoming about what it knows.
“It’s time for the very senior members of the military, and indeed of the intelligence community, to be brought forward under oath and properly questioned,” Coulthart said. “The Pentagon is allowed to get away too often with sophistry, evasive words which do not respond to specific allocations.”
NewsNation correspondent Tom Dempsey and digital producer Sean Noone contributed to this report.