'I get the UFO question?' An amused Chris Christie promises to 'stand for truth' in Republican debate

The Republican Presidential Primary Debate took place on Wednesday night (August 23). One of the highlights of the discussion was the controversial topic of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). Debate moderator Martha MacCallum asked former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie his opinion about a president's responsibility to provide the American public with the truth about UFOs.

"I get the UFO question?" Christie quipped.

Christie, one of the eight potential presidential candidates, said that the job of the US president was to level with citizens about everything. "The job of the president of the United States is to stand for truth," he added.

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"Especially coming from a woman from New Jersey, I think it's horrible that just because I'm from New Jersey, you asked me about unidentified flying objects and Martians. We're different but we're not that different," he further told the moderator.

The New Jersey reference made by Christie was about the infamous Mercury Theatre radio broadcast of HGWells' "War of the Worlds" in 1938 when people believed that Martian tripod machines were rampaging around the countryside near Grovers Mill.

The topic of UFOs has taken centre stage in recent months. On July 26, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Security at the Border and Foreign Affairs held a hearing called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP): Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency.

Three witnesses testified at the hearing- Ryan Graves, David Fravor and David Grushch. Graves and Fravor are former Navy aviators. During the hearing, Grusch claimed he was told about the existence of a "multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program" and was denied access to it. This prompted him to file a whistleblower complaint.

Graves, on the other hand, said that UAPs were severely under-reported in American airspace. "These sightings are not rare or isolated. They are routine," Graves said.

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