Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The 1963 assassination in Dallas has fueled one of the most prominent conspiracy theories in recent history, with Lee Harvey Oswald identified as the shooter, though he was killed two days later. Speculations surrounding the event have included theories of a second shooter and a Cuban conspiracy.
In an executive order signed on Thursday, Trump promised, “everything will be revealed.” The mandate requires officials to devise a plan within 15 days for releasing the JFK files, and within 45 days for documents concerning the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, who was also killed in 1968 while campaigning for president.
Although Trump had previously committed to making these records public during his initial presidential campaign, he had agreed to requests from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents confidential.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Trump’s choice for health secretary, has expressed skepticism over the idea that Oswald acted alone in his uncle’s assassination. After signing the order, Trump handed the pen to RFK Jr.
However, JFK’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, criticized the executive order, stating there was “nothing heroic” about it. He remarked, “The truth is a lot sadder than the myth—a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme,” and added that declassification seemed to use JFK as a “political prop” when he could not defend himself.
The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence are now tasked with creating a declassification plan for the JFK files and the other cases, though the timeline for their public release remains uncertain. Experts are cautious about expecting significant revelations, as only a fraction of the millions of records related to the JFK assassination have yet to be fully declassified.
Larry J. Sabato, an author well-versed in Kennedy’s history, noted, “There’s always the possibility that something would slip through that would be the tiny tip of a much larger iceberg that would be revealing. Researchers look for that, but the odds are you won’t find anything substantial.”
This executive order is part of a series of early actions taken by Trump since returning to the White House, which also include the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and discontinuing government diversity programs. Additionally, a judge has temporarily blocked his effort to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented migrants.
Credit: Sky News