On Thursday at the White House, President Donald Trump put pen to paper on an executive order aimed at revealing government documents tied to the assassinations of President John Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. This significant move could potentially lay to rest years of unresolved questions that have lingered over these historic events from more than 50 years ago.
Official investigations concluded that each of these assassinations was the act of lone gunmen, yet countless conspiracy theories have persisted, in part due to certain records being kept under wraps for decades. “That’s a big one,” Trump remarked from the Oval Office as he enacted the order.
“A lot of folks have been eager for this for a very long time,” he continued, “and it’s all going to be unveiled.” The directive tasks the director of national intelligence and the attorney general with collaborating alongside the national security advisor and Trump’s legal team to draft a plan for the president within 15 days, detailing the comprehensive release of documents concerning John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Furthermore, it mandates a similar review regarding the records about Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., requiring Trump be presented with a strategy for their full disclosure as well.
The executive order points out that over half a century has passed since these assassinations occurred, yet the federal government has not fully disclosed all related records to the public. “Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth,” the order emphasizes, underlining the national interest in a prompt release of all such information.
Back in 1992, the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act stipulated that all assassination-related records should be made public by October 26, 2017, unless the president certifies certain sensitive matters. Trump and later on, Joe Biden, had both previously sanctioned delays in disclosure. Trump mentioned in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, once a CIA director, had advised against declassifying the remaining records pertaining to Kennedy’s assassination.
In Thursday’s announcement, Trump declared he had decided letting withholding information go on was not in the public’s best interest. “The continued redaction and withholding of information from records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest,” he insisted, highlighting the overdue nature of their release.
While Congress hasn’t specifically called for the release of records associated with Robert Kennedy’s and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassinations, Trump deemed it in the public’s best interest to disclose everything the government holds about these tragic events.
To revisit history, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, during a Dallas motorcade. His younger brother, Robert, was gunned down on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles after a presidential primary win. Interestingly, Trump had recently nominated RFK’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to lead the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. King’s life was tragically cut short two months prior to RFK, on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. While preparing for his confirmation hearing, RFK Jr. expressed gratitude towards Trump, praising him for promoting government transparency.
Not all reactions were positive, however. Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, poured cold water on the move. Through a social media post, he expressed skepticism, arguing that using JFK’s memory in such a political manner was unfortunate, adding, “Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back.” He lamented that there’s no heroism in doing so.
