The chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign says the American people can "handle the truth" when it comes to hearing about evidence of alien life, and hinted that answers may lie in Area 51.

Speaking about the notorious Area 51 Air Force base, long rumored to harbor secret government information about alien life, John Podesta said that Clinton, if elected president, would push for transparency.

"She'll ask for as many records as the United States federal government has to be declassified, and I think that's a commitment she intends to keep and that I intend to hold her to," Podesta told CNN's Jake Tapper. That echoed comments Clinton made in January, when she said she would look into the issue of UFOs, and that she would "get to the bottom of it."

When asked if he had seen any of the documents pertaining to Area 51 as the chief of staff to Hillary's husband Bill when he was president in the 1990s, Podesta demurred, but didn't dispute the notion either. He said President Clinton did ask for some information about some of those documents, "in particular some information about what was going on at Area 51." Podesta did not go into greater detail.

But, he said the federal government "could do a much better job in answering the legitimate questions that people have about what's going on with unidentified aerial phenomena." A "thorough search" should be attempted, he said, adding that the "American people can handle the truth."

Tapper pressed Podesta again if he personally has seen evidence of alien life. While he conceded that are a lot of planets in the universe, Podesta refused to give way, saying that it's up to "the public to judge once they've seen all the evidence that the U.S. government has."