Trump Approves Release of More JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files

Last updated: January 23, 2025, at 6:43 PM EST (CBS News)

President Trump has announced plans to declassify any remaining files related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He signed an executive order at the White House on Thursday to initiate the process.

After an aide introduced the executive action as "ordering the declassification of files relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.," Mr. Trump remarked, "That's a big one, huh? A lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time—years, even decades."

The president instructed his aide to present the pen he used to sign the order to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late Robert F. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy Jr. is also Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The late Robert F. Kennedy served as U.S. attorney general, a New York senator, and a Democratic presidential candidate before his assassination in 1968.

Under the executive order, Mr. Trump has directed the director of national intelligence and the attorney general—neither of whom have been confirmed yet—to devise a plan within the next 15 days to release the JFK files. They will also have 45 days to create plans for releasing all files related to RFK and MLK.

Following the partial release of JFK files in 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration reported that 97% of the approximately 5 million pages in its collection on the assassination had already been made public.

Mr. Trump initially promised during his first administration in 2017 to release the remaining JFK files. At that time, the collection included around 3,000 previously unreleased documents and 30,000 others that had been made public with redactions. However, not all files were fully disclosed during his first term.

In 1992, Congress passed a law mandating that all assassination-related documents be released within 25 years.