Trump ‘declassifies’ files on JFK and Martin Luther King Jr assassinations

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order believed to be related to the declassification of the assassination files of multiple high-profile Americans.

Files relating to the murders of former president John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Junior will be declassified, according to Reuters.

He made similar promises to release the documents during his 2017 to 2021 term.

But under pressure from the FBI, he kept a chunk of documents under wraps, citing national security concerns.

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 stated that all records related to JFK’s assassination should be reviewed and released by 2017.

That was, unless there was an ‘identifiable harm to the military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations’ and ‘the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.’

When the initial deadline finally came in 2017, as President Donald Trump was nearing the end of his first year in office.

‘The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow,’ the former president tweeted on the eve of their release. ‘So interesting!’

Both professional and amateur researchers watched eagerly for the release – but were left disappointed as the Trump administration seemingly backpedalled on their promise of full transparency.

NARA released only 2,891 records on October 26, 2017, most of which were already available but partially redacted.

Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo was a leading advocate for keeping the documents under seal, Reuters reported at the time.

The Trump administration promised to release the documents ‘on a rolling basis’. Between November 2017 and April 2018, NARA released thousands more documents.

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