The Trump administration released thousands of previously classified records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday. While many of these files had already been disclosed, including a batch of 13,000 documents during the Biden administration, the newly released files had been redacted in earlier versions.
Trump had previously stated that “people have been waiting for decades” to see the 80,000 pages related to Kennedy’s assassination. After taking office, he signed an executive order directing the public release of documents tied to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
The records were posted on the National Archives website on Tuesday evening. Researchers will need time to sift through over 2,000 newly available documents, which are currently only identified by record numbers, with no descriptions provided. However, there is little expectation of major revelations, according to Tom Samoluk, a former deputy director of the Assassination Records Review Board, which reviewed records related to the assassination in the 1990s.
Samoluk stated that the majority of the records reviewed at that time didn’t reveal anything that would alter the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman responsible for Kennedy’s death. He further explained that if any such material had been found, it would have been released back in the 1990s.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed that the released records consist of approximately 80,000 pages of previously classified documents, which are being published without redactions. However, some documents remain withheld due to court seals, grand jury secrecy, or provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. The National Archives is working with the Justice Department to expedite the unsealing of these remaining records.
Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia and author of The Kennedy Half-Century, said his initial review of the newly released documents uncovered interesting information about the CIA’s activities during the Cold War, although some files remained redacted, despite prior assurances that all records would be unedited.
Kennedy’s assassination has long fueled conspiracy theories, some of which Trump himself has given voice to. This led to the creation of the Review Board in the 1990s to assess the potential release of records related to the assassination. Samoluk noted that he hasn’t seen all the records that could be released. For instance, the FBI recently discovered about 2,400 new records related to the assassination, following a new search after Trump’s executive order.
Samoluk also suggested that additional records from other agencies might still be hidden and that these could provide new insights into events leading up to the assassination, such as information about Oswald’s activities.
In 2023, the National Archives completed its review of the classified records, making 99% of them publicly available. President Joe Biden later confirmed that all documents that could be declassified had been released.
Despite past promises from various presidents, including Trump, to make all assassination-related records public, certain agencies such as the CIA, Pentagon, and State Department continue to withhold some files. These documents remain classified to protect the identities of confidential sources or sensitive methods. During Trump’s first term, he agreed not to release some records at the request of national security agencies. However, on the 2024 campaign trail, he vowed to release the remaining documents.
