By 3 News online staff
Former US President Bill Clinton has admitted looking into the possibility of alien existence.
In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Clinton was asked if he had ever investigated the potential of extraterrestrial life-forms visiting the earth.
"First I had people go and look at the records on Area 51, to make sure there was no alien down there," he said.
"People thought that [there was] because everybody who works there has to stop about an hour away and put on special clothing and then drive in and out."
But the explanation was a lot simpler, he told Kimmel.
"That's because a lot of our stealth technology is made there. We know that now. But there are no aliens there."
However, the 50th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident, in which an airborne object crashed on farmland in New Mexico, was due to occur shortly after he began his second term as president - so Clinton prised open files conspiracy theorists have long debated.
"When the Roswell thing came up I knew we'd get gazillions of letters so I had all of the Roswell papers reviewed. Everything."
Neither of Clinton's investigations found any hint of extraterrestrial involvement, and official US Air Force reports on the Roswell incident claim the wreckage was from a high-altitude balloon being used to track Soviet nuclear tests.
When Kimmel quizzed the former president whether he would tell the public if alien life had been discovered, Clinton assured him – and viewers – he would have.
Clinton served as president from 1993-2001.
3 News
source: newshub archive
