Trump announces release of JFK assassination files today

• Posted on March 20, 2025March 20, 2025
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

U.S. President, Donald Trump, has announced that his administration will release 80,000 pages of files related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy today.
Speaking at the Kennedy Center on Monday, President Trump described the upcoming release as “a lot of reading” and emphasized his commitment to transparency.

The killing of the 35th U.S. President in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, has fueled conspiracy theories for decades.

“I don’t believe we are going to redact anything. I said, ‘just don’t redact, you can’t redact,’” Trump told reporters. “But we are going to be releasing the JFK files,” he told U.S. media.

When asked if he had reviewed the contents of the files, President Trump confirmed he was familiar with them, adding, “It’s going to be very interesting.”

President Trump’s comments follow an executive order he issued in January, mandating the release of all remaining records on the JFK assassination, as well as documents related to the killings of Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The order instructed Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to present a plan within 15 days for the “full and complete release” of JFK assassination records.

Last month, the FBI reported that its searches to comply with the order had uncovered approximately 2,400 new files related to the case.

The circumstances surrounding JFK’s assassination have remained a subject of widespread skepticism. According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 65 percent of Americans do not believe the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, acted alone in killing the president. The poll found that 20 percent suspect Oswald conspired with the U.S. government, while 16 percent believe he worked with the CIA.

During his first term, President Trump pledged to release all remaining assassination records but ultimately held back thousands of pages at the request of the CIA and FBI, citing the need for further review. His successor, Joe Biden, later authorized the release of approximately 17,000 additional documents, leaving fewer than 4,700 still withheld in part or in full.

According to the National Archives, more than 99 percent of the roughly 320,000 documents reviewed under the 1992 JFK Records Act have been made public.

The law required all remaining files to be disclosed by October 26, 2017, unless the President determined that their release would pose a significant threat to national security, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations that outweighed the public interest in disclosure.

By Vera Owusu Sarpong