President Donald Trump has announced the long-awaited release of 80,000 pages of previously classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The files, which will be made public on Tuesday, mark a historic moment in the decades-long quest for transparency surrounding one of America’s most scrutinized events.
“People have been waiting for decades for this,” Trump told reporters while touring the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. “I’ve instructed my people … lots of different people, [Director of National Intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard, that they must be released tomorrow.”
Trump emphasized that the documents would be made available without redactions, a stark departure from previous administrations that withheld portions of the files due to national security concerns.
“You got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything. I said, ‘just don’t redact, you can’t redact,’” Trump stated, describing the records as “interesting.” However, when asked whether he had personally reviewed the files, the president admitted he had only “heard about them” and would not provide a summary, leaving that task to journalists and the public.
A Campaign Promise Fulfilled?
The decision follows through on Trump’s 2024 campaign promise to declassify all remaining government files related to the Kennedy assassination. “I said during the campaign I’d do it, and I’m a man of my word,” he reiterated.
This is not the first time Trump has pledged such a release. During his first term, he promised full transparency but ultimately withheld some documents after intelligence agencies raised concerns. The last major disclosure came in 2022 under President Biden, when the National Archives released nearly 13,000 new files, though some remained redacted.
What’s in the Files?
The release is expected to include records from the CIA, FBI, and other agencies detailing the events surrounding Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963. The official account holds that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but decades of speculation have fueled conspiracy theories suggesting the involvement of additional parties, including the CIA, organized crime, and foreign governments.
Trump’s new executive order, signed in January, goes beyond Kennedy’s assassination, also calling for the release of documents related to the killings of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The order directed intelligence agencies and the Department of Justice to present a plan for the “full and complete release” of all relevant records.
A Long Road to Transparency
The Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 mandated the release of all related government records by October 2017 unless their disclosure posed a risk to national security. Both Trump and Biden extended deadlines to keep some files classified, citing concerns from intelligence agencies.
Now, with Tuesday’s release, the public will finally gain access to what remains of the long-shrouded records. Whether the files will provide definitive answers or fuel further speculation remains to be seen.
