US President Trump to release 80,000 pages about JFK assassination, fuel for decades-long conspiracy theories

Speaking at the Kennedy Center on Monday, Trump stated that the release will include “a lot of reading” about the assassination. He also mentioned that there will be no redaction of the files, stating, “I don’t believe we are going to redact anything. I said, ‘just don’t redact, you can’t redact.'”

When asked if he had seen the contents of the files, Trump replied that he was aware of them. He added, “It’s going to be very interesting.”

Trump’s remarks come after his January executive order, which called for the release of all remaining records relating to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Under the order, Trump instructed the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to present a plan for the complete release of the files within 15 days.

The FBI recently stated that it has uncovered approximately 2,400 new files related to the assassination as part of the compliance effort with the executive order.

The JFK assassination has long captivated US society, with a majority of Americans expressing doubt in the official explanations provided. A 2023 Gallup poll showed that 65 percent of Americans do not accept the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested over JFK’s death, acted alone in the assassination.

About 20 percent of those surveyed believe that Oswald conspired with the US government, while 16 percent think he collaborated with the CIA.

During his presidency, Trump had previously promised to disclose all outstanding records on the assassination but ultimately only released approximately 2,800 documents. These releases came after the CIA and FBI requested that thousands of pages be withheld for review.

Former US President Joe Biden’s administration released an additional 17,000 records, leaving fewer than 4,700 files withheld in part or in full.

The National Archives informed that more than 99 percent of the approximately 320,000 documents reviewed under the 1992 JFK Records Act have been made public. The act mandated the disclosure of all remaining files by October 26, 2017, unless the president determined that their release would cause “identifiable harm” to national defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations that outweighed the public interest.