---
title: "Podesta acknowledges UFO call with Tom DeLonge, Neil McCasland; contests version of events Grusch provided to Joe Rogan"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/podesta-acknowledges-ufo-call-with-tom-delonge-neil-mccasland-contests-version-of-events-grusch-prov-3912"
updated: "2026-10-02T16:09:54.496Z"
description: "John Podesta acknowledged participating in a call involving musician Tom DeLonge and former Air Force general Neil McCasland. He disputed aspects of the account David Grusch later gave to Joe Rogan about the discussion."
sources: ["https://www.paradigm.news/p/exclusive-podesta-responds-to-gruschs"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Podesta acknowledges UFO call with Tom DeLonge, Neil McCasland; contests version of events Grusch provided to Joe Rogan

Published: 2026-10-01  
Source: [r/UFOs](https://www.paradigm.news/p/exclusive-podesta-responds-to-gruschs)

### Overview

John Podesta has acknowledged participating in a conference call with musician Tom DeLonge, retired Air Force Gen. Neil McCasland and Lockheed Martin executive Robert Weiss, while disputing how former military intelligence officer David Grusch characterized the discussion on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

In an email to **PARADIGM**, Podesta said DeLonge organized the call and that the participants discussed potential declassification of Department of Defense records and the stigma surrounding professionals who take unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, seriously. Podesta’s comments represent his first public acknowledgment, according to PARADIGM, that he discussed UFO-related issues directly with DeLonge, McCasland and Weiss.

“That is probably not how I would characterize our interaction,” Podesta wrote in response to Grusch’s description of the episode.

### Grusch’s Account

Grusch discussed the interactions during a new interview with Rogan, describing them as part of a broader effort to prepare the public for the possibility that the government possessed significant information about UFOs. He referred to the effort as an “acclimatization activity” or “popularization activity” and linked it to DeLonge’s relationships with senior figures in government and the aerospace industry.

“Podesta greenlit a— I’ll call it acclimatization activity, a popularization activity,” Grusch said. He argued that McCasland, Weiss and others were not simply engaging with DeLonge because of his celebrity or interest in developing a science-fiction project.

Instead, Grusch said, the participants had been given “top cover” to work with DeLonge as a public figure who could reach younger audiences. He described the effort as an attempt to “prep the battlespace prior to 2016,” while emphasizing that he was not judging whether the initiative was good or bad.

Podesta rejected that framing. “My recollection is that Tom arranged a conference call with the individuals you mentioned and we discussed amongst other things, declassifying DOD files and reducing the stigma of professionals taking UAP’s seriously,” he wrote. “I have always maintained that the American people could handle the truth about UAP’s and didn’t really need to be ‘acclimated.’”

### Earlier Connections

The exchange adds detail to a series of previously documented contacts between DeLonge and Podesta. Emails published by WikiLeaks showed DeLonge communicating with Podesta in 2015 and 2016 about UFOs, Roswell and his interactions with McCasland. The correspondence also referred to an apparent January 2016 call concerning UFO-related matters.

At the time, DeLonge was developing **_Sekret Machines_**, a multimedia project focused on UFOs and related subjects. He later launched a company connected to UFO media and potential breakthrough technologies. The leaked correspondence helped establish that DeLonge had sought access to influential figures in politics, the military and the defense industry, but the precise purpose and scope of those discussions remained disputed.

### Broader Context

Podesta’s interest in UFO transparency predates the DeLonge communications. He was reportedly interested in the subject during his time as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff in the 1990s. During the 2016 presidential campaign, when he chaired Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Clinton said she would seek the release of UFO records if elected.

The competing accounts underscore a continuing divide over how government and defense-industry contacts with UFO advocates should be interpreted. **Grusch presents the discussions as part of a coordinated public-preparation effort, while Podesta describes them as an exchange focused on transparency and reducing professional stigma.** Neither account, as presented in the source material, independently establishes that the participants possessed or discussed definitive evidence of nonhuman technology.

## Provenance

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