"How is that not illegal?” — in wake of WSJ reporting, Rep. Burlison wants to investigate Air Force

Rep. Eric Burlison answers questions from congressional press corps on Capitol steps. Photo: Matt Laslo

Who?

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) — Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets

LISTEN: Laslo & Burlison

Ask a Pol asks:

What do you make of that Wall Street Journal piece?

Key Burlison:

“Well, you remember, like, that was my original worldview,” Rep. Eric Burlison exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “What he's saying is probably the case. I think it's the most likely scenario.”

Interesting. But that kind of seems at odds with your conversation with folks in the FBI’s UFO unit. Or do you think they’re all just siloed?

“Yeah, so I would say, I do think that the people that provided information for that article did not have a full picture of everything that's going on,” Burlison says. “They do not. There's no way they could. But at the end of the day, I think they don't have the full picture.”

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Burlison planning to investigate Air Force

“I'm going to be looking into seeing, like, were there any laws violated in some of this deception?” Burlison says. “The story of the individual who went to a bar and handed [fake] photos — or whatever it was — how is that not illegal?”

Caught our ear:

“When I talked to [UFO whistleblower David] Grusch, he said, ‘that's ridiculous,’” Burlison tells us. “He would have heard of that. He's never heard of that.”

Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), slightly edited for clarity.

TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Eric Burlison (6-11-2025)

SCENE: After voting in the US Capitol, Rep. Eric Burlison chats with a couple different reporters on the Capitol steps. Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo gently waits in the wings until he’s alone, then (accidentally…) sneaks up behind him and proceeds to walk the congressman back to the entrance to his Capitol Hill office.

Matt Laslo: “Mr. Burlison — hey, how are you?”

Eric BurlisonEB: “Good, hey.”

ML: “Did you catch that Wall Street Journal piece?”

Wall Street Journal article:

Source: Wall Street Journal via MSN, June 6, 2025.

EB: “I did.”

ML: “What do you make of it?”

EB: “Well, you remember, like, that was my original worldview. That is my — like that, it's probably, what he's saying, is probably the case. I think it's the most likely scenario.”

ML: “Interesting. But that kind of seems at odds with your guys’ conversation with folks at the FBI, with their [UFO] unit. Or do you think they’re all just siloed?”

EB: “Yeah, so I would say I do think that the people that provided information for that article did not have a full picture of everything that's going on.”

ML: “Yeah, right?”

EB: “They do not. They have, and there's no — there's no way they could. But at the end of the day, I think they don't have the full picture.”

ML: “Yeah?”

EB: “And I think that some of the things that were mentioned in there were exaggerated, because it does. There's – you can't tell me that there's a widespread hazing activity within the Air Force. That it's, like, pervasive. There's that program — that Yankee Blue — we're gonna, I'm gonna have to look into that…”

ML: “Yeah?”

EB: “…and see if that actually was, like, a fake SAP [Special Access program]. But – no, when I talked to Grusch, he'd never — he said, ‘that's ridiculous.’ He's never, like, he would have heard of that. He's never heard of that.”

ML: “Interesting. Well, and it seems like, yes, they could have done that, and then there also could be a separate program. Like, that doesn’t seem mutually exclusive with…?”

EB: “Yeah. I just think that, if anything, what they just admitted is that the federal government’s, I mean, that they are absolutely lying and deceiving the American people.”

ML: “Yeah, right? And that…”

EB: “Either way – either way.”

ML: “Yeah, and when you guys go and have your next hearing, do you think you’ll focus on some of this?”

EB: “Yeah, I – I'm going to be looking into seeing, like, were there any laws violated in some of this deception…?”

ML: “Yeah?”

EB: “In these efforts, because you can't, like, the story of the individual who went to a bar and handed photos — or whatever it was — how is that not illegal?”

ML: “Yeah?”

EB: “You know? So I’ll look into it.”

ML: “Yeah.”

EB: “Thank you.”

ML: “Preciate ya.”

Burlison enters the Longworth House Office Building, while Laslo goes back to the Capitol.