By Steve Neavling
President Trump directed the nation’s security agencies on Thursday to prepare plans for releasing all government records tied to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
During his first term, Trump made a similar promise to release the remaining documents on Kennedy’s assassination. However, he ultimately allowed some information to stay classified after intelligence agencies requested redactions to safeguard sensitive details, such as the identities of C.I.A. informants, intelligence methods, and foreign partnerships.
After returning to office, Trump has declared that these redactions are no longer justified. He instructed federal agencies to craft plans for the complete release of files not only about Kennedy’s assassination but also those related to the deaths of Kennedy and King — two cases not covered under the original disclosure law focused solely on President Kennedy, The New York Times reports.
“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 and the release of these records is long overdue,” Trump said in an executive order.
He added, “I have determined that the release of all records” connected to the killings of Senator Kennedy and Dr. King “is also in the public interest.”
Trump has a history of promoting conspiracy theories about Kennedy’s murder in November 1963. In 2016, he went so far as to claim that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of his Republican primary opponents, was connected to Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin. During Trump’s hush-money trial last year, testimony revealed that the National Enquirer, acting on Mr. Trump’s behalf, had fabricated that allegation using doctored photographs to damage Cruz.
Now, Trump has an ally in Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who shares his conspiratorial views regarding the assassination of Kennedy — his uncle. Kennedy, who endorsed Trump last year and has since been nominated as health secretary, has said, “There’s overwhelming evidence that the C.I.A. was involved in his murder” and insists that “it’s beyond a reasonable doubt at this point.”
