Document · News, checked against the broadcaster transcript · 8 November 2026

Trump on 60 Minutes: F-22 pilots and a round object (8 Nov 2026)

In his post-midterm 60 Minutes interview with Ross Douthat, aired on 8 November 2026, President Trump said Air Force pilots had told him in the Oval Office, in his first term and "a little bit second term", that while flying an F-22 "something goes by them at three times their speed and it's round. It's not aerodynamic".

Asked about the whistleblowers' claim of a secret program, he said he had not heard of one, "but if there is I'm gonna find out about it right after this interview."

It matters because a sitting president says, on the record, that military pilots brought him firsthand encounters with a craft that outran an F-22. The pilots are unnamed, and no date, place or unit is given.

On the record

Read in CBS's own transcript.
Trump is firsthand to the meetings; the sightings reach us secondhand through him.
The only F-22 case on file is case/langley-2023; nothing ties this account to it.

Trump on 60 Minutes: F-22 pilots and a round object (8 Nov 2026)

On the record

Cases (2)

Connected

Sources