Interviews

David Grusch left Eric Burlison's staff after Labor Day 2026

The UAP whistleblower told Joe Rogan he was the first witness Congress hired after testimony and that he advised the Missouri Republican for about a year and a half.

David Grusch said he left professional staff work for Rep. Eric Burlison after Labor Day 2026. On The Joe Rogan Experience, he said he stayed longer than he expected before winding down once he had accomplished the objectives he set with the Missouri Republican.

Grusch told Congress in 2023 that the Pentagon was hiding a UAP retrieval program from lawmakers. The UAP Disclosure Act of 2023 never passed, and he said he largely stayed quiet in 2024 after what he heard from the Biden administration and the White House.

Burlison then brought him onto his team, Grusch said, and he believed he was the first whistleblower to testify before Congress and later be hired as congressional staff. Burlison announced the special adviser role in March 2025, pointing to Grusch's sworn House Oversight testimony and his work on the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets.

Grusch said much of his recent work for Burlison stayed private while he helped shape oversight questions. He said the country was at a poignant moment in its history because of what President Donald Trump has done on UAP transparency and what was still unfolding behind closed doors.

Joe Rogan asked whether some lawmakers wanted disclosure while others resisted it. Grusch agreed that both camps existed and that the divide affected how oversight moved.

He told Rogan the pace had been exhausting and that he planned a break before what he called the next phase of his work.

Source video: Joe Rogan Experience #2560 - David Grusch