Within the next 15 days, federal officials are required to provide a plan for the complete release of all President John F. Kennedy assassination records, said President Donald Trump in an executive order issued Thursday.
In a Fact Sheet about the order, the White House noted that Trump pledged during his 2024 campaign for president that he would release the files early on in his term. Indeed, he announced in August that he would release the records “in honor of Bobby,” referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr. is JKF’s nephew and now Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. In the past, the Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate-turned Trump supporter has called for the release of government records about the JFK assassination and others, including his father’s.
JFK was assassinated in 1963, a traumatic event that has spawned numerous conspiracy theories. His brother, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK Jr.’s father) and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated in 1968. In addition to demanding plans for the release of the JFK records within 15 days, Trump also called on federal officials to “immediately review the records,” relating to the RFK and MLK Jr. assassinations and to “present a plan for their full and complete release within 45 days.”
Per the White House Fact Sheet, “The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992” required all records related to the assassination be released in 25 years, absent a presidential certification. When Trump was in office, he “directed agencies to reevaluate redactions and disclose any information that no longer warranted withholding,” it said, adding that “President [Joe] Biden delayed disclosure in 2021, 2022, and 2023.”
In July, Trump himself was the subject of an attempted assassination in Butler, Pa., that claimed the life a bystander and injured Trump’s ear. By the end of the year, he survived multiple assassination attempts.
Shortly before the 2024 election, Trump discussed his plans to release the JFK assassination records on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast: “There’s a lot of interest in it,” he told Rogan, adding that he had read about 50% of the remaining files. Trump explained that he was convinced during his first term not to release all the files.
“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,” said Trump in Thursday’s executive order. “And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”