Dr. Phil McGraw says the White House brought him into one of the strangest government mysteries in America: UFOs.

The longtime TV personality claimed the Trump administration gave him access to government files on unidentified flying objects — now officially called unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs — before some of the material was released to the public.

And according to Dr. Phil, what he saw left him convinced that the American people have not been told the full truth.

Speaking on NewsNation’s Reality Check, Dr. Phil said officials wanted him to review the files not as a scientist or military expert, but as someone who could help gauge how ordinary Americans might react if the government revealed more about what it knows.

“I think the reason they’re giving me access to this is because they want me doing exactly what I’m doing,” Dr. Phil said during the episode, which was released Tuesday.

He insisted that the White House was not feeding him talking points or telling him how to frame the issue.

“I have maintained independence in what I’m doing,” he said. “They’re not scripting me. They’re not telling me what to say and not say.”

But Dr. Phil’s comments quickly raised eyebrows because he went much further than simply saying he had reviewed unusual files.

He claimed the material points to a sprawling government “cover-up” surrounding UFO sightings and what officials may know about them.

Even more striking, Dr. Phil suggested that some government insiders may be keeping President Trump himself in the dark.

He said the files left him with the impression that certain officials were treating Trump like a “temp employee” by withholding the full scope of what they know.

“That infuriates me,” Dr. Phil said. “How dare they do that? I don’t think that’s right and I think we deserve better.”

The Independent reported that it contacted the White House for comment.

Dr. Phil, a well-known Trump ally who also serves on the administration’s religious liberty committee, said his concern is not just about whether UFOs exist. He said the bigger question is what happens to society if the government suddenly confirms information that changes how people view humanity’s place in the universe.

He suggested that learning humans may be “somewhere different in the food chain” could rattle the public in ways officials may not be fully prepared to handle.

That kind of revelation, he warned, could shake people spiritually, psychologically and emotionally.

“I think it needs to be provided with context and I think that the American public is prepared to handle that,” he said. “I think we as a government need to be prepared to help those that have a difficult time with it.”

Dr. Phil also said he worries that UFO disclosures could open the door to panic, religious turmoil and even doomsday grifters looking to exploit frightened Americans.

His comments come as the federal government has continued releasing batches of UAP-related materials under the Trump administration.

According to the report, four tranches of UFO files have been released so far, with the most recent batch coming this month. The files reportedly include material from agencies including the Pentagon, NASA and the CIA.

One of the more unusual incidents described in the documents involved a 2025 encounter over the Yellow Sea near China. In that case, a military sensor reportedly tracked “an area of contrast resembling a six-pointed star.”

Still, longtime UFO researchers have not exactly been blown away by the disclosures.

Some argue that the releases have mostly repackaged information that was already public, rather than revealing the bombshell secrets many UFO watchers have waited decades to see.

Donald R. Schmitt, an investigator at the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, told The New York Times earlier this month that the newly released material did not amount to much.

“It’s nothing new,” Schmitt said. “It’s the same game that they have played all these years. Once again, we’re getting the carrot dangled in front of us.”

That frustration is familiar to those who have followed government transparency battles over other high-profile files.

The Trump administration has also faced criticism from skeptics who say it has not fully lived up to promises surrounding the release of files related to John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jeffrey Epstein.

But Dr. Phil’s involvement adds a bizarre new wrinkle to the UFO debate.

For decades, Americans have been told that many unexplained sightings were weather balloons, aircraft, drones or misunderstood natural events. Yet public interest in the subject has surged in recent years as military pilots, former intelligence officials and lawmakers have pushed for more answers.

Now Dr. Phil is claiming he was pulled into the process because officials wanted to understand not just what the government should reveal — but how the public would handle it.

And if his description is accurate, he believes the biggest shock may not be what is flying in the skies.

It may be how much Washington has allegedly known all along.