The Trump administration released and declassified files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as he promised years ago on the campaign trail. The release, made on Tuesday, adds to the huge cache of records about the event.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s national intelligence director, announced the news on X, citing the website of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). She emphasized Trump’s commitment to openness, stating that the 80,000 pages were made available without redaction. Some of these records remain under court seal or are withheld under legal privilege, but NARA is working with the Department of Justice to make them available sooner than they need to be. The collection already has over six million pages of records, photographs, and sound recordings.
Speaking at the Kennedy Center, Trump reaffirmed his decision, remarking, “We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading.” He had previously delayed the release during his first term due to intelligence community concerns but revived the pledge during his latest campaign.
Trump signed an executive order in January that expanded declassification efforts to include documents regarding the assassinations of Senator Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He argued that public interest outweighed potential damage to national security.
Trump last year hinted at the All-In podcast that the CIA had asked to decelerate the release, as though they were seeking the documents to remain classified. The recently declassified documents must keep the debate on the Kennedy assassination ongoing, although whether they do or do not ultimately provide some answers is not known.
