Donald Trump says he's heard 'interesting' things about aliens but refuses to reveal what he knows about Roswell in interview with Don Jr - as he unveils new campaign ad claiming Joe Biden was 'endorsed by Osama bin Laden'

President Donald Trump has said he's heard some 'interesting things' about aliens, and, in an interview with his son Don Jr, unveiled a new campaign advert claiming Joe Biden has been endorsed by Osama bin Laden. 

Trump made the comments Thursday in a Father's Day-themed interview with his eldest son, hosted by the president's reelection campaign. 

The pair discuss Roswell, the New Mexico city known for its proximity to arguably most famous UFO event. 

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Don Jr asked his father if he would reveal what he had been told about alien life

'Before you leave office, will you let us know if there are aliens?' Don Jr said. 

'Because this is the only thing I really want to know. Would you ever open up Roswell and let us know what's really going on.'

Trump responded: 'I won't talk to you about what I know about it, but it's very interesting.'

In 1947, a rancher discovered unidentifiable debris in his sheep pasture outside Roswell. 

Air Force officials said it was a crashed weather balloon, but skeptics questioned whether it was in fact at extraterrestrial flying saucer. 

Decades later the U.S. military acknowledged the debris was related to a top-secret atomic project. 

Still, the UFO theory has flourished.

The president in the past has spoken skeptically about the possibility that there is something out there. 

Last year Trump said he received a short briefing on UFO sighting, but also offered: 'People are saying they're seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.'

After his father offered that he heard some 'interesting' things about Roswell, Trump Jr. asked the president might declassify that information someday.

'Well, I'll have to think about that one,' the president responded. 

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Area 51 near Roswell, New Mexico, has long been a source of fascination for UFO watchers

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Law enforcement stand near barb wire as people gathered to "storm" Area 51 in September

Don Jr also asked his father if he knew about documents found during the May 2011 raid which killed bin Laden. 

The secretive documents, first reported in 2012 by The Washington Post, outlined a plan to take out Obama and top U.S. military commander David Petraeus as they traveled by plane.

'The reason for concentrating on them is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make [Vice President] Biden take over the presidency,' bin Laden wrote to a top deputy. 

'Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis. 

'As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour ... and killing him would alter the war's path' in Afghanistan.

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Don Jr interviewed his father for a Father's Day special, which aired on Thursday

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Don Jr told Trump that bin Laden had wanted Biden as president. Trump asked if that was true

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The interview then cut to a new advert, claiming Biden has been endorsed by the dead terrorist

Don Jr said he had recently been made aware of the documents. 

'There was paperwork from Osama bin Laden saying that he wanted to kill President Obama, because it would put Joe Biden in charge,' he told his father.

'And essentially he's so grossly incompetent it would lead to the destruction of America. 

'What does it say to you that, basically, the Democrat nominee got the posthumous Osama bin Laden endorsement? That this is the guy they put forth?'

Trump said he was unaware of it, but would 'immediately make a great commercial'.

Don Jr replied: 'That's your Father's Day present.' 

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Osama bin Laden, who was killed in May 2011, wanted to kill Obama and leave Biden in charge

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Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was where the documents were found

The interview then cut to a campaign advert, saying: 'Joe Biden - China's candidate, Iran's candidate, and Osama's candidate.'

It also seized on Biden's admission that, in April 2011, he advised Obama to wait for further confirmation that bin Laden was actually in the compound in Pakistan before acting. 

Biden also, months later and ever since, claimed that in a one-on-one meeting with Obama immediately after the security council meeting, he told the president to 'follow your instincts,' knowing that the president was inclined at that time to move forward with the raid. 

The new campaign was greeted with bemusement by Trump's adversaries.

'Can you smell the desperation?' said Tim Miller, an advisor for Republican Voters Against Trump.

Bill Kristol, an outspoken Republican critic of Trump, tweeted: 'The Trumps cavort in the gutter: "Bin Laden Endorsed Biden." 

'This would be another moment, another opportunity, for decent Republicans who have yet to step forward to say, No, we cannot vote in 2020 for Donald Trump.'

Trump was asked about the economic performance of the U.S. under his presidency, and said he was doing well until 'the Chinese plague' came over.

He said his actions, though, had saved 'millions of lives'. 

The president then addressed the protests that sprung up after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, saying that Seattle had been 'taken over' and saying it was 'sad' that Minneapolis was 'almost taken over'.

'You cannot go back to the bedlam,' he said. 'You'd have a situation like Seattle times a thousand.'

Don Jr described the election in November as 'the last hurrah of the swamp'.

Trump agreed, saying if the Democrats get in, the US will be in 'a recession, slash depression, the likes of which we've never seen before. You'll have another Seattle, another Minneapolis.'

He said he should have sent the National Guard in 'on night one'.

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The interview cut to feature clips of riots, and Trump said that if he loses in November there will be 'another Seattle, another Minneapolis.' The president blamed Democrat mayors

Trump also divulged that he watched 'a couple' of episodes of Netflix's 'Tiger King.' 

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic, the star of the popular docuseries, is serving a 22-year prison sentence after he was convicted for hiring a hit man to murder a rival, the animal-rights activist.

Trump said during a April press briefing he was unfamiliar with the 'Tiger King' when asked about Don Jr. jokingly saying on a radio show that he was lobbying the president for a pardon for Maldonado-Passage.

The president on Thursday did not say whether he was considering a pardon but sounded intrigued by Maldonado-Passage.

'That's a whole strange deal going on,' Trump said. 

'I'll tell you that's a strange guy and a lot of strange people surrounding him.'