'All will be revealed': Trump orders last JFK assassination files to be released
23 January 2025, 21:51 | Updated: 23 January 2025, 23:45
Donald Trump has ordered the release of the last classified files surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Thursday, vowing that ‘everything will be revealed’.
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The newly inaugurated president said he’s ordering the release of all the remaining classified documents that include details on the notorious assassination of John F. Kennedy.
He has also ordered the release of files on the assassination of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and files on JFK’s brother, former New York senator and US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy Sr.
Trump made the announcement while speaking to reporters during a spontaneous signing ceremony in the Oval Office after a secretary handed him the order to sign.
Once Will Scharf, a White House Staff Secretary, told him what the order was, Trump said: “That’s a big one, huh?”
“A lot of people are waiting for this for a long time, for years, for decades,” he added, saying that “everything will be revealed” about the assassinations.
All three assassinations have been the subject of widespread conspiracy theories. 95% of files on JFK’s assassination have already been revealed.
The order will bring about a “full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.”
“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,” the order states.
During his first full day in office, Trump signed off a slew of executive orders - from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to pardoning January 6 rioters.
Other executive orders included the withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organisation, ending birthright citizenship, and the "restoration of freedom of speech".
Trump rescinded a total of 78 Biden-era executive actions, after slamming his administration as the "worst in history".
Read more: US-UK relations will 'flourish' under Trump presidency, Starmer pledges
“As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,” Trump promised his supporters a the Capital One Arena.
“And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kenedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Trump added
Trump had attempted to release these files during his first stint in office but faced considerable pushback from security officials.
95% of classified files relating to JKF’s death have already been released, CNN reports.
Lee Harvey Oswald has long been considered to former president’s killer and is believed to have acted alone.
However, many still believe some details are being withheld from the public and questions remain unanswered.
Trump was sworn in as the 47th US president on Monday, marking his second time entering the highest office - and the first time a convicted criminal does so.
He said a "thrilling" new era of national success had arrived, adding that he was feeling "confident and optimistic" about what is to come.
