[President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to release files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
“That’s a big one. Lot of people are waiting for this a long, for years, for decades,” Trump said at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office. “Give that to RFK Jr.,” he said, indicating that the pen he used to sign the order should be given to his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, who is the son of the former attorney general and nephew of the late president. “All will be revealed.”
Many of the files related to the JFK assassination have already been disclosed, including a tranche of 13,000 documents released during the Biden administration. However, many of those documents have been redacted.
Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay, according to the order from the White House.
The records will not be released immediately. Within 15 days of the date of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The timeline is within 45 days for RFK and MLK files.
In 2023, the National Archives concluded its review of the classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of JFK, with 99% of the records having been made publicly available. President Joe Biden then released a memo certifying that the archivist had completed the review and affirmed the remaining documents authorized to be declassified had been released to the public – meeting a previously set deadline.
Despite previous pledges from presidents, including Trump, to release those records, the CIA, Pentagon, and State Department still have documents they’ve refused to release. The justification for those documents remaining classified largely stems from efforts to protect the identities of confidential sources who are still alive, or might be alive, and protecting methods.
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