ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Who?
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Original sponsor, UAP Disclosure Act
Ask a Pol asks:
Did you hear Rep. Eric Burlison got your UAP Disclosure Act with Sen. Chuck Schumer included in the NDAA — National Defense Authorization Act — over in the House of Representatives?
Key Rounds:
“No, I hadn’t heard that,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP — before adding, “Well, if it is, it’s old news.”*
*ICYMI — Senate Dems are blocking NDAA over Iran
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Caught our ear:
Have you looked at any of the newly declassified “UFO files” the Pentagon’s been releasing yet?
“We’ve been busy on other stuff,” Rounds tells us. “No.”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mike Rounds (8-6-2026)
SCENE: Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo recorded Sen. Mike Rounds updating reporters on a host of issues — from government funding to a stalled crypto measure — but Laslo left the scrum early when the staffer’s aides boarded a Senators Only elevator.
Laslo slips onto a different elevator and rushes to the 2nd floor of the US Capitol, just off the Senate floor. When the Senator and his aides finally arrive, Laslo’s waiting outside their elevator.
Mike Rounds: “Hey, you’re quick!”
Rounds laughs.
Matt Laslo: “Did you hear [Rep. Eric] Burlison got your UAP Disclosure Act with [Senate minority Leader Chuck] Schumer included in the NDAA over there [in the US House]?”
Rounds: “No, I hadn’t heard that.”
ICYMI — Burlison’s announcement (July 22, 2026)
Laslo: “You hadn’t?”
Rounds: “Well, if it is, it’s old news.”
Laslo: “Oh yeah? But with the NDAA do you think you guys would be able to keep that in?”
Rounds: “I hope so. I hope so. I think we’ve done everything we can to keep it in the right, you know, with the right approach. And once again, I’m just concerned that we do this in such a fashion that we don’t release anything which would be considered to be any breach of security in terms of the other projects that we work on regularly.”
Laslo: “Have you talked to AARO at all — those folks — since the Pentagon started releasing stuff?”
Rounds: “No, I have not.”
Laslo: “No?”
Rounds: “I have not.”
Laslo: “Have you looked at the UFO files yet?”
Rounds: “We’ve been busy on other stuff.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Laslo: “Have you looked at what the Pentagon’s been releasing?”
Rounds: “No.”
Laslo: “No?”
Another congressional reporter steps in.
Other Reporter: “Senator, has there been any movement on…”
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