In a landmark move, former President Donald Trump ordered the release of 80,000 previously sealed documents related to the 1963 JFK assassination. 

The full disclosure was mandated by an executive order Trump signed in January, directing the government to make all records concerning the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, his brother Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. publicly accessible.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Advocate for Declassification

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. played a crucial role in pushing for the release of these documents. He urged the Biden administration to declassify the remaining files, questioning the government's hesitance to make them public.

“What is so embarrassing that they’re afraid to show the American public 60 years later?” Kennedy Jr. asked in a statement marking the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination in 2023.

After signing the executive order, Trump made a symbolic gesture by handing the pen used for the order to RFK Jr.

JFK Assassination Unredacted Documents 

The classified documents were made available without redactions, per Trump's directive. Announcing the release at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump assured the public that the government would not withhold any information.

Most of the records related to Kennedy’s assassination had already been made public, according to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

A 1992 law required the release of these documents within 25 years unless they posed a national security risk.

Ending Decades of Secrecy  

More than 60 years after JFK was fatally shot, the U.S. government began publishing 80,000 pages of previously classified records. Federal authorities have long maintained that Kennedy’s assassination was solely carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald, but conspiracy theories have persisted.

Trump’s executive order also covered documents related to the 1968 assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr.

"I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest," Trump stated in his order, "and the release of these records is long overdue."

JFK Assassination Files Go Public

The newly released records are available in digital format on the National Archives website, as well as in physical copies at the National Archives and Records Administration offices in Maryland.

NARA has been gradually releasing JFK-related materials since 1992, following the passage of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. The most recent batch of documents was made public in 2023 under then-President Joe Biden’s directive.

"At the National Archives, we believe in the importance of government transparency and the accessibility of information," said Dr. Colleen Shogan, the U.S. archivist.

"The dedicated and detailed work completed by NARA staff and by our partners and stakeholder agencies is an excellent representation of how we can collaborate together to ensure that the maximum amount of information is made available to the American people, while we protect what we must."

For continued updates and access to the JFK assassination records, visit the National Archives website: JFK Assassination Records Collection.