Dr. Phil Accuses Government of Lying ‘Straight to Our Face’

Dr. Phil McGraw is taking aim at the U.S. government over UFOs, accusing officials of hiding the truth from Americans and ignoring potentially credible sightings reported by ordinary people.

The outspoken TV personality unleashed on the Pentagon Wednesday, claiming there has been a deliberate effort stretching back decades to keep Americans in the dark about what is really happening in the skies.

The overwhelming majority of UAP sightings come from the public.
The government never investigates them.

If 99% prove to be nothing to see here… fine.
What about the 1%? pic.twitter.com/FAPkyvjigA

— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) September 2, 2026

McGraw alleged there has been “a conscious, policy-driven decision to deceive the American people about what was going on in the skies,” adding that he believes “we’re not getting the truth from our government.”

“The government has turned a blind eye to sightings by most Americans,” McGraw said in a video posted to X on Sept. 2.

At the center of his argument are more than 1,800 civilian UFO reports that McGraw says have been classified as highly credible by the private National UFO Reporting Center, yet are not being formally investigated by the federal government.

“If 99% prove to be nothing to see here … fine,” McGraw said. “What about the 1%?”

McGraw then blasted the government’s handling of UFO — now commonly called unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP — records and disclosure efforts.

“Most of you are as angry as I am that the government has lied straight to our face,” he said.

“This is what really pisses me off. There is not one government agency that lets everyday Americans report UAPs.”

McGraw argued that civilians account for a huge portion of reported sightings but have no straightforward federal channel for submitting those encounters directly to the government’s main UFO investigative office.

Military personnel have official reporting procedures, while civilian pilots are encouraged to report sightings to air traffic control. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO, receives UAP-related pilot reports from the Federal Aviation Administration.

But for an ordinary American who spots something unexplained in the sky, the situation is different.

AARO’s own website currently says it will announce when a reporting system becomes available to the general public. Its existing submission process is primarily intended for current or former government employees, service members and contractors with firsthand knowledge of government UAP programs or activities.

McGraw said that leaves most Americans relying on private organizations such as the National UFO Reporting Center, or NUFORC, and the Mutual UFO Network, known as MUFON.

He pointed specifically to more than 1,800 NUFORC reports categorized as “Tier 1,” a designation for particularly dramatic or anomalous reported encounters.

“Can some of those be explained away? I’m sure they can — maybe all of them, I don’t know,” McGraw acknowledged.

“The point is that no one in the government is even looking at these things.”

McGraw insisted that if federal officials are truly serious about UFO transparency, investigators should be comparing civilian reports with information already collected by the military.

Instead, he argued, Americans are essentially being told, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

“They should be saying, ‘Here’s how to submit that report through the proper channels,’” McGraw said.

“But there is no channel — proper or otherwise. Eighty years of trust us has gotten us nowhere.”

The controversy comes as the federal government continues releasing and examining information involving unexplained aerial sightings.

AARO currently publishes records, case information and reporting statistics involving UAP encounters. Its data through Aug. 15, 2026, shows many closed cases were ultimately attributed to mundane objects or phenomena, including balloons, satellites, drones, aircraft and birds.

That does not mean every reported sighting has been resolved.

AARO’s published data includes reports describing objects as spheres, lights, cylinders, triangles, disks and other shapes, while the office continues analyzing cases that cannot immediately be identified.

The UFO debate has received renewed attention during President Donald Trump’s administration as more government material has been released.

McGraw’s message, however, was aimed less at proving extraterrestrial life exists and more at demanding that federal investigators take civilian sightings seriously.

Even he admitted some — or potentially all — of the mysterious reports could ultimately have ordinary explanations.

But until someone investigates them, McGraw argued, Americans are being asked to simply trust a government he believes has kept them in the dark for far too long.