An Independent Public RecordWednesday, June 17, 2026

MACEOPEDIA

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UAP & the Hearings

Mace's role in the two House Oversight UAP hearings, the July 26, 2023 exchange that defined the moment, the November 13, 2024 joint hearing she co-chaired, her most striking on-record statements, the bipartisan praise she earned, and the internet reaction that followed.

The July 26, 2023 House Oversight subcommittee UAP hearing. Watch on C-SPAN.

The July 26, 2023 hearing

On July 26, 2023, the House Oversight National Security Subcommittee held a hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the term the U.S. military and Congress now use in place of "UFOs." The centerpiece was the testimony of David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer and member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency who had filed a whistleblower complaint claiming the U.S. government ran a secret program to retrieve crashed UAP craft and their occupants. Mace pressed him on the nature of the recovered material:

Mace: "Were they, I guess, human or nonhuman biologics?"

David Grusch: "Non-human."

The exchange, via Roll Call.

Grusch's claims are contested. The Department of Defense said it had no "verifiable information" substantiating them. Grusch testified as a private whistleblower in his personal capacity, not as a government representative, and not on behalf of any agency. PolitiFact rated the widespread framing that "the government stated under oath" it possessed alien bodies False.

Post and Courier political reporter Anna Byrd called Mace a "breakout star" of the hearing:

"Nancy Mace has become a breakout star for her line of questioning that boldly went where no congressional hearing has gone before."

The Post and Courier's headline, "Nancy Mace wants evidence she can touch", was the outlet's own framing of her posture; it is not a direct Mace quote.

The moment triggered a days-long internet meme wave. For the full catalog of reaction posts, jokes, and viral threads, see The "non-human biologics" hearing.

The November 13, 2024 hearing

On November 13, 2024, Mace co-chaired a joint hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security and the full Oversight Committee titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Advancing a Fact-Based Discourse." She shared the gavel with Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI). Witnesses included Luis Elizondo, former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), the Defense Department's classified UAP investigation unit.

Mace opened by putting the alleged classified program name "Immaculate Constellation" directly into the congressional record:

"If I say, 'Immaculate Constellation,' I will be on some list. Maybe a FISA warrant. So, come at me bro, I guess."

She then ran a yes/no exchange with Elizondo on the core contested claims, whether the government had conducted secret UAP crash-retrieval programs and whether those programs were designed to reverse-engineer alien craft. Elizondo answered "Yes" to both. She also challenged the internal logic of the DoD's public denials:

"How can the government deny we have recovered craft if they are paying people because they have been injured by recovered craft?"

And pressed Elizondo on the origin of the technology:

"If these technologies are not made by any government, who is making them? … are you implying they are crafted by a nonhuman intelligence?"

Elizondo answered: "It may be both."

All exchanges are drawn from the official GovInfo transcript (CHRG-118hhrg57440). See: "Come at me bro": Mace's most striking lines from the 2024 UAP hearing

The same hearing drew formal recognition from across the aisle. Elizondo opened his written testimony thanking Mace for her "leadership on this important matter." Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) stated he wanted to "especially thank Chairwoman Mace for her continued advocacy on this topic." Rep. Grothman credited Mace for "working with me on this topic and for making this a joint Subcommittee hearing." For the full catalog of recognition statements, see: Nancy Mace's UAP leadership recognized by journalists, Congressional colleagues, and UAP advocates

No verified recording of the November 13, 2024 hearing has been published on YouTube or C-SPAN. The official record is on GovInfo and the House Oversight Committee's website, linked in "Documents on the record" below.

Bipartisan UAP push

The 2023 and 2024 hearings were part of a broader bipartisan effort to force transparency on UAP disclosures from the defense and intelligence community. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), one of the most active Democratic voices on disclosure legislation, named Mace explicitly among the key members driving the effort:

"I want to particularly thank Congressman Burchett, Mace, Luna, and Garcia for working on bipartisan pieces of legislation."

Moskowitz named Mace alongside Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) as the core bipartisan group on UAP legislative reform.

The December 2024 drones

In December 2024, a wave of unidentified drone sightings swept New Jersey and the broader Northeast, triggering widespread media coverage and congressional attention. Asked whether the objects could be "craft from outer space," Mace said on the record:

"I think that has to be on the table. It has to be an option."

Federal agencies investigated the sightings. Authorities later attributed the bulk of the reports to ordinary aircraft, hobbyist drones, and misidentified stars and planets. No confirmed extraterrestrial origin was established.

See: Mace says mystery drones being "craft from outer space" has "to be on the table"

The internet reaction

The July 26, 2023 exchange went viral within hours. By that evening "aliens are real" was trending worldwide, and the clip of Grusch answering "Non-human" to Mace's question became the source material for days of memes, jokes, and reaction threads across X, TikTok, and Reddit. Mace's flat, just-checking delivery made her the congressional face of the moment. Every major late-night comedy show was dark during the 2023 WGA writers' strike (May 2, September 27, 2023), so the entire meme wave was social-media-native. For the full catalog, including the viral tweets, the Lizzo fact-check, and the Know Your Meme writeup, see The "non-human biologics" hearing.

Documents on the record

Sources & related coverage

See Also

On the Record