Trump issues executive order to declassify documents related to Kennedy's assassination
Photo: Donald Trump, President of the United States (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order today, January 23, regarding the declassification of documents related to the assassination of the 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in the 1960s, according to the White House.
In addition to the high-profile assassination, files concerning the deaths of other prominent figures from that time, including the murder of civil rights movement leader, Baptist pastor, and public figure Martin Luther King Jr., are also expected to be opened.
"More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events," the executive order states.
The US president added that their families and the American people "deserve transparency and the truth."
"It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay," Trump said.
The directive states that within 45 days of the issuance of this order, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General, along with the President's National Security Advisor and the President’s Chief of Staff, will review documents related to the murder of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and "present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of these records."
Disclosure of documents related to Kennedy's assassination
As previously reported, during his first presidential term, Trump instructed agencies in 2017 to make revisions to certain files, including declassifying information regarding the case of the assassination of the 35th US President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. At that time, the National Archives and Records Administration published 2,891 documents related to this high-profile assassination.
However, at the request of US executive agencies and departments, Trump decided to temporarily withhold some documents from the secret archives, which could potentially harm the national security of the country.
In October 2017, the 25-year period of secrecy for the Kennedy assassination documents was coming to an end.
Additionally, just before his inauguration on January 20, Trump promised to make the secret documents about the assassinations of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. available to the public.
