President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday promised to release a trove of long-hidden government files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
In what he touted as an effort to increase government transparency, the 78-year-old president said in remarks at a huge victory rally in Washington, D.C., that he would take steps to direct the disclosure of these information “in the coming days.” I promised.
President Trump told supporters packed into the 20,000-seat Capital One Arena: “As a first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also end the overclassification of government documents. ” he promised.
“And in the coming days, we will release the remaining records regarding the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Trump added. The loudest applause of the night.
During his first administration, President Trump carefully considered releasing the JFK files in line with the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which set a 2017 deadline for releasing the remaining files.
But it faced fierce opposition from prominent national security figures, including former CIA director Mike Pompeo, who later became secretary of state.
Because of that resistance, President Trump released some of the files and then delayed the full release until October 2021. President Biden has taken a similar approach.
More than 95% of the CIA's records regarding the JFK assassination have been released to date. CNN previously reported. Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963.
Previous government investigations have concluded that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted on his own when he shot the former president in the head. Still, many are skeptical of that conclusion, and some questions remain unanswered.
But on the campaign trail, President Trump signaled that he intended to follow through with the JFK incident and reveal everything that was still kept secret. At his victory rally on Sunday, Trump vowed to go further by releasing outstanding government documents regarding RFK and MLK.
Under the Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, the remaining files on the civil rights icon will not be released until 2027. President Trump did not go into details about whether he would accelerate it.
His remarks came the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which coincides with the inauguration of the next president. Federal authorities, including the FBI, conducted surveillance on Baptist pastors who campaigned against Jim Crow laws, but not all details are publicly known.
Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, and RFK was assassinated on June 6, 1968.
President Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 35th president's nephew, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
President Kennedy's heir, who has President Trump's ear, has been a strong supporter of releasing these remaining files for years. Trump endorsed the younger Kennedy at a rally in Arizona in August and promised to release the JFK files.
In contrast to his first administration, Mr. Trump has tended to hire people from outside the traditional political establishment for his new team.
At his victory rally, Trump teased plans to begin in earnest on Monday, his first day in office, signing a slew of executive orders to reform areas such as border security, energy policy and regulation.
Sunday's event will be the first large rally of its kind in Washington, D.C., since Trump won the Nov. 5, 2024 election.
