Washington DC [US]: US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has announced the release of thousands of previously classified government records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), Senator Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK).
The release comes in accordance with President Donald Trump’s directive for maximum transparency, a move aimed at restoring public trust in the Intelligence Community and other federal agencies.
“President Donald J Trump promised maximum transparency and a commitment to rebuild the trust of the American people in the Intelligence Community… Part of that promise was to fully release previously classified records,” said Gabbard in a statement on Friday.
Historic RFK Files Now Public
This first tranche of documents focuses on the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination… the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation,” Gabbard said, thanking the Kennedy family for their support.
The Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) was tasked with overseeing the digitization, declassification, and release process. In partnership with the National Archives, over 10,000 pages have now been made publicly accessible at archives.gov/rfk. The documents include minimal redactions—limited mostly to personal data like Social Security and Tax ID numbers.
Broader Declassification Efforts Underway
Gabbard confirmed that additional files related to JFK and MLK will be released in upcoming phases, continuing the Trump administration’s promise to declassify all assassination-related documents that do not pose a national security risk.
President John F. Kennedy, who served as the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. His presidency was marked by Cold War tensions, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and key strides in civil rights and nuclear disarmament, including the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights leader, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, just two months before RFK’s death.
The files are expected to provide new insights and possibly settle long-standing public doubts surrounding the circumstances, motives, and investigations into the three historic assassinations.