JUST IN: National Archives Releases JFK Files At Trump’s Direction

The National Archives on Tuesday released numerous files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy at President Trump’s direction after he pledged to do so on the campaign trail.

Tuesday’s release comes just a few weeks after Trump signed an executive order just after his inauguration in January, which ordered the federal government to disclose and release all previously unreleased documents concerning the assassinations of JFK, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

It was not immediately clear how many of the new documents were entirely unknown to the public. The order called on the director of national intelligence and attorney general to present a plan within 15 days for the “full and complete release of records” related to President Kennedy’s assassination.

The November 1963 assassination, which took place at Deely Plaza in Dallas, Texas, has long sparked debate and speculation. Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marine veteran who became infatuated with Marxist ideals and travelled to the Soviet Union, has long been hold solely responsible for assassinating the president as he was traveling in his motorcade.

Oswald fired from an observatory overlooking the plaza with a bolt-action rifle, though conspiracy theories have long contended that there were multiple shooters due to the speed and accuracy of the fatal bullets. Skeptics of the official narrative have long contended that there was at least one shooter on a hillside located on the north side of Elm Street, commonly referred to as “The Grassy Knoll.”

Oswald was shot and killed days after his arrest by Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby while the accused assassin was being transported to a different jail. Ruby had loose connections with the mafia in Chicago, though the extent of his mob ties have long been debated.

Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald while he was being transported on November 24, 1963
Photo: Robert H. Jackson

The Warren Commission, formed to investigate the killings, concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy. Committee members also concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.

In 1992, Congress passed legislation requiring all records concerning the JFK  assassination to be released by October 2017, unless certain information posed risks to national defense or intelligence interests. In 2018, Trump issued an extension to keep certain documents private while releasing others due to national security concerns.

On Monday, Trump pledged that the latest release would concern roughly 80,000 documents upon completion. “I said during the campaign I’d do it, and I’m a man of my word,” Trump said Monday on releasing the documents.

Monday’s release can be viewed here.