- The Trump administration released approximately 80,000 pages of previously classified records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The digitized files are mainly from the Warren Commission and published with no redactions.
- The documents were made public on the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s website, where more than 6 million other records related to the assassination can be found.
- President Trump signed an executive order in January to declassify the records, as well as those related to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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The Trump administration released thousands of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, March 18. The release consists of approximately 80,000 pages of previously classified records, according to the Department of National Intelligence.
The documents were made public on the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s website, where more than 6 million other records related to the assassination can be found.
Most of the digitized files come from the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, also known as the Warren Commission. The Warren Commission was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963 to investigate Kennedy’s death.
The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas.
The commission determined that Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, hitting Kennedy twice while the president was riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza.
Oswald denied the claims and insisted he was innocent, telling reporters he was “just a patsy.” Two days after Kennedy was killed, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald on live television while Oswald was being transferred to the county jail.
The debate about whether Oswald acted alone or as part of a larger conspiracy –– pointing to other organizations, ranging from the mafia to the CIA –– continues to this day.
“Today, per [President Trump’s] direction, previously redacted JFK assassination files are being released to the public with no redactions,” Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, said in a statement.
Trump signed an executive order in January ordering the declassification of the files, along with records pertaining to the assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
