By Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal | March 18, 2025
The declassified files on the assassination of the 39th president, John F. Kennedy, more than 60 years ago were released Tuesday, in response to an executive order by President Donald Trump.
The documents were released by the National Archives just before 7 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, USA Today reported.
“President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency,” Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, posted on X.
Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the slaying, but was himself fatally shot before he could stand trial, which has fueled suspicion and conspiracy theories for decades.
In January, Trump signed an executive order declassifying files about the assassinations of Kennedy; his brother, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1968; and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., also in 1968.
Trump’s order stated, “Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.”
Trump’s appointed health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of the former president and son of the former attorney general, stated in a 2023 interview, “There is overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved in his murder.”
During his first administration, Trump released some information on the JFK assassination but followed the advice of the FBI and the CIA and declined to release all information. The new release is a far more comprehensive document drop.
Then-CIA spokeswoman Nicole de Haay in 2018 said that the agency “narrowly redacted information in rare instances only to protect CIA assets, officers and their families as well as intelligence methods, operations and partnerships that remain critical to the security of our nation.”
Trump announced on Monday he asked for no redactions.
The 2018 release was in response to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which called for records to be made public within 25 years.
The Warren Commission, led by then-Chief Justice Earl Warren, concluded that Oswald acted alone.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee established a subcommittee to investigate the assassinations.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and manager of the Investigative Reporting Project for The Daily Signal. He is the author of “The Myth of Voter Suppression: The Left’s Assault on Clean Elections.”
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