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Donald Trump Orders Declassification of JFK, RFK and Dr. Martin Luther King Assassination Records, as Promised

Credit: whitehouse.gov

Jan. 24, 2025—As he promised he would do, on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order and a related [Fact Sheet]

(https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-orders-declassification-of-jfk-rfk-and-mlk-assassination-files/) on his decision to declassify records concerning the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the President stated in his EO, the federal government hadn’t released all the documents related to these events to the public. “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.”

The EO directs the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, National Security Adviser, and Counsel to the President to present a plan within 15 days of the date of the order “for the full and complete release of all records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” Then, within 45 days of the date of the order, the same administration officials are to review records related to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and “present a plan for the President for the full and complete release of these records.”

In signing the Executive Order in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump promised “all will be revealed” and asked an aide to give the pen with which he signed the order to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. , son of the Senator slain in 1968 and his nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary. Kennedy’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29. Asked about President Trump’s declassification announcement, Kennedy told NBC News that it was “a great move, because we need to have more transparency in our government and [Trump] is keeping his promise to tell the truth to the American people about everything.” Kennedy has previously charged there is “overwhelming evidence” that the CIA was involved in assassinating his uncle.

In presenting his EO, Trump discussed his previous approach to the declassification, noting that in 2017 and 2018 he had accepted proposed redactions from executive departments and agencies, although he had ordered “continued reevaluation of those remaining redactions.” Subsequently he ordered agencies to re-review each of those redactions over the next three years and “disclose information that no longer warrants continued withholding.…” He reported that former President Joe Biden had in 2021, 2022 and 2023 given agencies additional time to review the records and “withhold information from public disclosure.”

But, he continued, “I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.” And, he said, while no act of Congress has directed the release of this information pertaining to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”