David Grusch on the Megyn Kelly Show — “How the CIA and BOTH Parties Have Covered Up Truth About UAPs” (7 Jan 2026)
Source: The Megyn Kelly Show (YouTube). Host Megyn Kelly; guest David Grusch. URL: https://youtu.be/izLo7lIFWNk (Megyn Kelly; 2026-01-07; ~13:47). Captured: 2026-06-28. Full verbatim YouTube auto-transcript (timestamps retained; ASR artifacts preserved — “Gush / Grush”=Grusch, “Elizondo”=Lue Elizondo; the excerpt includes embedded Age of Disclosure documentary clips labeled “sot 54 / 42 / 45”; “Stephanie Wilson”=an IC figure, spelling uncertain). Provenance only; analysis lives on grusch-career-and-claims and uap-disclosure-schism. What this is: Grusch discussing the alleged “legacy program” and, crucially for the schism, James Clapper. Grusch says Clapper “understates what he knows,” that Clapper “was well aware of the crash retrieval issue, managed the crash retrieval issue,” and “placed people in critical roles to manage this issue both publicly and non-publicly” — the corroborating substrate for Coulthart’s claim that Clapper ran a controlled-disclosure apparatus with Elizondo as frontman. Also: the “domestic information operation” he first raised in 2023; “Game of Thrones / House of Cards” bipartisan deep-state factions; alleged Obama-era actions to aid a presidential candidate; Dick Cheney as the closest thing to central leadership (and the lapse after he left in 2009); IRAD / private-contractor exploitation of retrieved materials; and the CIA declining the Burchett-office legal interrogatives (referring them to AARO).
[00:00:00.000] There’s a deeper program called the [00:00:01.360] legacy program that has really seems to [00:00:04.680] have been trying to hide the most [00:00:06.760] shocking pieces of what we know from [00:00:09.560] even the UAP task force. [00:00:11.920] Um [00:00:12.560] we’ve had Lou Elizondo on the show and [00:00:16.200] he talked to us about some of what we’d [00:00:18.440] learned. This is years ago. I mean it [00:00:19.920] was when we first launched the program [00:00:21.760] in 2020, but here he is as part of the [00:00:24.920] documentary [00:00:26.480] uh Age of Disclosure speaking to what [00:00:29.480] this legacy program has uncovered. I’m [00:00:32.040] just going to run the sot 54 here. We [00:00:34.360] discovered another deeply hidden and [00:00:36.240] much larger UAP program. [00:00:40.600] This program was so sensitive that it [00:00:44.960] was withheld from the Secretary of [00:00:47.640] Defense, [00:00:49.000] Congress, and even the President of the [00:00:51.560] United States. [00:00:53.200] This program is referred to as the [00:00:55.760] legacy program. [00:00:57.640] This program had been capturing, [00:00:59.520] retrieving, and reverse engineering UAPs [00:01:03.240] since at least 1947. [00:01:05.800] On numerous occasions, [00:01:07.680] these retrievals included the bodies of [00:01:10.880] non-humans, [00:01:12.880] some sort of intelligence, intelligent [00:01:14.840] being that is not human. [00:01:18.960] On numerous occasions. I mean that is [00:01:20.360] just stunning, David. For to to like [00:01:21.720] people who don’t follow this, [00:01:23.320] he’s saying they found some sort of [00:01:25.000] alien beings’ bodies along with the [00:01:27.480] crafts that the government has had it [00:01:29.280] for decades, it’s happened multiple [00:01:31.280] times, and that they’re all the whole [00:01:32.960] theory of the the entire movie with all [00:01:35.440] of these storied experts. These are not [00:01:37.040] crackpots. I mean if they’re crackpots, [00:01:38.920] boy they found dozens of them who have [00:01:40.320] been at the highest levels of our [00:01:41.920] government um over generations [00:01:45.000] who are all saying, yes, this has [00:01:47.400] happened and the reason that that they [00:01:50.360] keep it secret from everyone, including [00:01:53.760] they point out in the in the piece, our [00:01:55.440] own presidents over the over time is [00:01:58.200] what? [00:02:01.040] Well, it depends on the time epoch in [00:02:02.960] which administration certainly there [00:02:04.960] were former Secretaries of Defense and [00:02:07.240] Presidents that were briefed on this [00:02:09.280] matter. Um it depended on their level of [00:02:11.480] trust that the you know the deep state [00:02:13.160] if you will, the lifers in the [00:02:14.360] governments uh had with those said [00:02:16.560] individuals. And unfortunately this [00:02:20.680] uh [00:02:21.880] subject has been a victim of a lot of [00:02:24.800] I’ll call it uh domestic information [00:02:26.920] operation, something I discussed [00:02:28.440] initially publicly in 2023 and there’s [00:02:31.400] certainly been this Game of Thrones [00:02:32.760] activity with multiple factions of the [00:02:35.000] deep state uh in a bipartisan manner. Uh [00:02:38.040] the Republicans and the Democrats are [00:02:39.480] both guilty um and even in a recent [00:02:42.040] previous administration, in the Obama [00:02:43.880] administration, there was certainly um [00:02:47.120] actions taken uh strategically uh to [00:02:50.360] help a particular uh presidential [00:02:52.840] candidate uh [00:02:54.720] possibly if if this um subject were to [00:02:57.800] become normalized and they got elected [00:02:59.480] president. So there’s been a lot of [00:03:00.760] gamesmanship and a lot of I’ll call it [00:03:03.200] House of Cards type type activities in [00:03:06.520] the past. But it is true that a lot of [00:03:08.840] people have been uh withheld. I found it [00:03:11.280] deeply disgusting and shocking that even [00:03:14.640] I was not fully accessed into these [00:03:16.440] activities and I did have a [00:03:18.040] congressionally mandated need to know. I [00:03:20.480] investigated this on behalf of the first [00:03:22.640] Trump administration and some of Trump’s [00:03:24.840] cabinet members and and Senator Rubio [00:03:27.360] when he was Senator, you know, uh [00:03:29.080] Senator, now Secretary Rubio, and um [00:03:32.720] providing my findings up the chain. Uh I [00:03:35.280] was just very disturbed uh to find uh [00:03:38.120] how this was controlled, the [00:03:39.360] self-licking ice cream cone, [00:03:41.360] unaccountable, everybody owns a piece, [00:03:44.320] nobody owns the outcome, and there’s not [00:03:47.000] really a mob boss. The closest person we [00:03:49.200] got that uh I was aware of was [00:03:52.600] unfortunately now deceased uh Vice [00:03:54.880] President Dick Cheney, uh Darth Vader [00:03:57.160] himself. Not shocking that he was [00:03:59.480] involved in this. And essentially when [00:04:02.080] he left in 2009, that was the last time [00:04:04.640] that these activities really had central [00:04:06.280] leadership. [00:04:08.280] Yeah, because the film posits that [00:04:11.200] you know the the current and the last [00:04:13.680] head of CIA probably don’t know, but [00:04:17.079] there is like lower branches within the [00:04:19.400] CIA that have specific responsibilities [00:04:22.640] and the career employees there probably [00:04:25.600] do. And they don’t look at the political [00:04:27.600] appointees brought in by a president as [00:04:29.400] someone to whom they need to disclose [00:04:30.920] anything. They’re like, this guy’s going [00:04:32.560] to be gone in you know, a year, two [00:04:34.800] years, four at the most. [00:04:37.040] I’m not going to keep disclosing this to [00:04:38.880] person after person. I’m keeping this [00:04:40.280] very dark as my predecessor did. And [00:04:43.080] they all it also posits that [00:04:45.520] when it’s super secret, they’ve been [00:04:47.000] offloading the research to private [00:04:49.080] contractors and that way they don’t have [00:04:51.280] to include any of these disclosures in [00:04:53.440] response to FOIA requests made of the [00:04:55.480] federal government because it’s been [00:04:57.160] given to a private entity, but that too [00:04:59.360] leads to no accountability and no [00:05:02.400] no person over the life of, you know, 20 [00:05:05.560] years who’s got real responsibility [00:05:07.160] because companies get sold, new people [00:05:09.040] come in, and then these companies may [00:05:10.960] just exploit the materials for the [00:05:13.440] latest technological advantage. You [00:05:15.680] know, who knows? Like [00:05:17.720] I don’t know. [00:05:19.200] Some AI development or some fast speed [00:05:21.800] train development that a company may [00:05:23.800] have used the information [00:05:26.080] to build a commercial advantage with. [00:05:29.880] That’s certainly true. You you’ve [00:05:31.120] actually accurately described how it is. [00:05:33.800] Uh early on the global war on terror, uh [00:05:36.640] a lot of the money that was initially [00:05:38.240] given to these companies was essentially [00:05:40.120] reallocated uh for overseas contingency [00:05:42.920] operations and these contractors [00:05:45.440] essentially uh started to do their own [00:05:48.120] thing if you will, something called [00:05:49.560] IRAD, internal research and development. [00:05:52.160] And uh privately they continued certain [00:05:55.400] things that actually the government was [00:05:56.920] trying to cancel as it relates to the [00:05:58.440] subject and they went off um and [00:06:01.320] retrieved and exploited things [00:06:02.720] essentially on their own uh and only [00:06:05.320] loosely accountable back uh to their [00:06:07.360] government handlers. And it’s it’s funny [00:06:09.120] you mentioned the CIA. Um [00:06:12.400] naturally there’s a lot of uh good men [00:06:14.160] and women that work there. Uh my wife [00:06:16.160] actually was a CIA officer and she also [00:06:18.280] served in the Air Force with me. Um but [00:06:21.160] uh Chairwoman Luna and the task force [00:06:23.520] and the committee staff uh certainly [00:06:25.144] [snorts] I assisted in my other [00:06:26.920] professional capacity um helping [00:06:29.120] Representative Burchett’s office did [00:06:31.160] send legal interrogatives uh to several [00:06:33.840] agencies and private companies. CIA was [00:06:36.760] one of them um and curiously enough uh [00:06:39.680] CIA provided what I considered a [00:06:41.880] extremely disrespectful response. They [00:06:43.920] declined to answer our interrogatives on [00:06:47.360] this matter, which is their [00:06:48.920] participation in crash retrieval [00:06:50.640] operations, and just referred us to the [00:06:53.240] Pentagon’s AARO office, which has a [00:06:56.720] nebulous in a concerning history in [00:06:58.800] itself. And I just find it very [00:07:00.240] interesting that CIA uh did that. Now [00:07:03.400] I’m not saying John Ratcliffe or Michael [00:07:05.360] Ellis, who’s the acting General Counsel [00:07:07.080] and Deputy Director, had a hand in that [00:07:09.080] response, uh but they certainly are the [00:07:11.200] leaders of their organization. John [00:07:13.360] Ratcliffe has spoke positively on this [00:07:15.120] issue previously and I I would hope that [00:07:18.080] John Ratcliffe was placed there uh by [00:07:20.240] DNI Gabbard and the President to enact [00:07:22.280] some reforms on the CIA. And [00:07:24.360] unfortunately the CIA has a lot of [00:07:26.600] skeletons in its closets. Um [00:07:29.400] other things I know about that I can’t [00:07:30.840] talk about that are conventional [00:07:31.960] national security issues, uh but the [00:07:33.920] crash retrieval issue it unfortunately [00:07:36.360] is is certainly one of them and they’ve [00:07:38.760] um done a lot of concerning things. [00:07:40.680] What’s being alleged by you and many [00:07:42.760] others is that is that they have [00:07:44.800] literal skeletons in their closet or [00:07:47.280] whatever. They do. Whatever’s inside an [00:07:49.720] alien being. Uh because here’s [00:07:52.560] it’s it sounds crazy. Just just throw it [00:07:54.240] out there short form, it sounds crazy, [00:07:55.880] but it person after person, [00:07:57.880] distinguished scientist after uh intel [00:08:00.680] person is making the same claim, [00:08:03.080] validating the stories about Roswell, [00:08:05.600] telling other stories that have happened [00:08:07.160] at um it’s it’s a many military [00:08:09.280] facilities with what appears to be a [00:08:11.400] clear alien craft coming overhead, [00:08:13.320] looking almost diamond-like in shape, [00:08:15.040] being huge, sitting there, hovering, [00:08:16.960] coming from something like 80,000 ft and [00:08:19.480] dropping down, [00:08:21.040] then hovering in in a way that no [00:08:23.320] vehicle that we know of right now could [00:08:25.640] possibly do, nothing invented by man. Um [00:08:28.480] here is a montage from the movie of top [00:08:31.640] US officials talking about how all of [00:08:34.320] this is relevant because it may pose a [00:08:36.760] serious national security threat. It’s [00:08:39.479] sot 42. [00:08:41.080] We’ve had repeated instances of [00:08:43.159] something operating in the airspace over [00:08:45.360] restricted nuclear facilities and it’s [00:08:48.000] not ours and we don’t know whose it is. [00:08:50.440] That alone, just that statement alone, [00:08:52.680] deserves inquiry, deserves attention, [00:08:55.200] deserves focus. If you have objects in [00:08:57.640] the sky that you cannot identify, that’s [00:09:00.240] a problem because it could be China, it [00:09:02.600] could be Russia, it could be any [00:09:04.160] adversary. Well, any any explained [00:09:06.560] phenomenon could pose a national [00:09:08.440] security threat. [00:09:09.160] >> Clapper. That’s why you have to treat [00:09:11.600] those things. [00:09:12.360] >> There’s something violating our [00:09:14.520] airspace. There’s something fouling our [00:09:16.960] ranges that even the people we’ve tasked [00:09:19.400] in the executive branch to understand [00:09:21.360] this cannot provide an explanation. So I [00:09:24.480] would say in addition to the national [00:09:26.080] security implications, this has [00:09:27.840] implications for basic trust and [00:09:29.160] confidence in the American government. [00:09:32.560] I I just want to play one more. Um [00:09:34.720] here we have a former Navy pilot [00:09:37.240] describing the UAPs defying extreme [00:09:42.200] weather and physics in sot 45. [00:09:45.600] In 2014 to 2015, we were operating off [00:09:48.560] the coast of Virginia Beach off the [00:09:50.120] Eastern Seaboard. [00:09:52.160] It was during this time that we upgraded [00:09:53.720] our radar from the APG-73 to the APG-79 [00:09:56.920] radar. And this allowed us to [00:09:58.600] essentially see more objects we weren’t [00:10:00.440] expecting to see. [00:10:02.680] And there’s a particular case of one of [00:10:04.440] these objects maintaining a complete [00:10:07.000] stationary position inside of 120 knot [00:10:09.880] winds, essentially inside of a [00:10:11.240] hurricane. We’re going against the wind. [00:10:13.520] The wind’s 120 knots to the left. [00:10:18.680] It just seems like they’re not affected [00:10:20.080] by the environment the way we are. [00:10:24.360] And there’s testimonial after [00:10:25.640] testimonial like that, David. That’s not [00:10:27.640] unique to have an experienced fighter [00:10:29.800] pilot like our our men and women in the [00:10:31.600] military have been quietly coming [00:10:33.400] forward and reporting on this for a long [00:10:36.920] time only to be told keep your mouth [00:10:39.160] shut. [00:10:40.800] Well, that’s true. And I I have Air [00:10:42.160] Force pilot friends of mine that have [00:10:43.840] seen [00:10:45.080] astounding things while on duty to [00:10:46.720] include a glowing triangular craft, you [00:10:50.320] know, hovering above other aircraft [00:10:52.480] cruising at, you know, 50,000 ft. And I [00:10:55.400] did want to point out [00:10:57.320] General Clapper, the former DNI, in the [00:10:59.800] documentary. [00:11:01.320] I certainly applaud him for at least [00:11:04.000] speaking out in general. [00:11:05.920] He goes on, I believe, I’ve only seen [00:11:07.560] clips of Age of Disclosure, not the [00:11:08.920] whole thing, where there was a program [00:11:11.960] when he was the Director of National [00:11:13.280] Intelligence [00:11:14.720] where they were tracking these vehicles [00:11:16.839] over Area 51, of course, the famed [00:11:19.720] classified test location. [00:11:21.920] And I’m a little bit disappointed as a [00:11:24.440] fellow Air Force officer, and certainly [00:11:26.120] General Clapper rate rose to the ranks [00:11:28.360] as three-star general. That’s all he [00:11:30.600] said in the documentary, that that was a [00:11:33.160] program he was aware of. In fact, [00:11:36.040] without being inappropriate, I will say [00:11:38.000] that General Clapper was well aware of [00:11:39.800] the crash retrieval issue, managed the [00:11:42.000] crash retrieval issue, and when he was [00:11:43.560] the DNI, USDI, and DIA director, he [00:11:47.200] placed people in critical roles to [00:11:49.760] manage this issue both publicly and I’ll [00:11:53.440] just say not non-publicly as well. And [00:11:56.400] I’ll allow the audience to distill what [00:11:58.400] I’m saying [00:11:59.640] at the at the risk of being [00:12:00.960] inappropriate or going too far with my [00:12:03.520] discussion. So, General Clapper, [00:12:06.560] Stephanie Wilson, other folks in the IC [00:12:09.440] that are well aware of this issue that [00:12:11.360] were in rooms discussing this issue, [00:12:14.320] I ask you to be greater leaders on this. [00:12:17.400] I should not be the only former military [00:12:20.360] officer and intelligence official that [00:12:23.240] is being completely candid with the [00:12:25.760] information that they were exposed to. [00:12:27.480] So, [00:12:28.600] perhaps we can move [00:12:29.600] >> James Clapper understates what he knows [00:12:32.600] and what he’s done. [00:12:34.600] A new year means new financial goals [00:12:36.720] like making sure your savings are secure [00:12:38.760] and diversified. Will this be the year [00:12:40.760] you decide to talk to someone from Birch [00:12:42.400] Gold Group? They use an educational [00:12:44.680] approach with a deep understanding of [00:12:46.839] macroeconomics. 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