US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to declassify government documents related to the assassinations during the 1960s of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr, multiple news media outlets reported on Thursday.
BREAKING: The moment Trump signs off on the declassification of the JFK, RFK and MLK files.
“We’ve been waiting for this for years. Decades.”pic.twitter.com/snOJNebJWj
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 23, 2025
Under Trump’s order, the director of national intelligence is tasked with preparing a plan within 15 days for the “full and complete release” of the files related to JFK’s assassination a plan within 45 days for the releases of files on the assassinations of RFK and King.
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Trump made a promise to do so at a victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington last weekend, speaking ahead of his inauguration on Monday.
The high-profile murders of President Kennedy in 1963, his brother and political ally Robert in 1968 and, in that same year, Martin Luther King, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, remain a subject of controversy and speculation in America.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has five million records related to President Kennedy’s assassination alone. In the 1990s, the federal government mandated its almost-full release by October 2017. The US president still had an authority to order exemptions. Between 3,000 and 4,000 documents are yet to be disclosed.
Trump already made a similar promise during his first presidential term and ended up authorizing the release of several documents. He kept a significant part classified, citing national security concerns, under what was described as pressure from the CIA and the FBI at that time.
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A video showing the moment Trump signed the order has surfaced on social media. “That is a big one,” the president can be heard saying in the clip. “A lot of people have been waiting for this for years. For decades,” he added. “Everything will be revealed,” Trump said while signing.