Trump orders release of secret JFK, RFK and MLK documents
President Donald Trump has ordered the release of secret documents surrounding the assassinations of several prominent political figures.
The government documents related to the 1968 assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy are set to be released to the public “within the next few days,” according to one of President Donald Trump’s top intelligence officers.
Trump signed an executive order in January that would unveil a trove of records surrounding the murders, which, along with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, have been the focus of intense speculation and rampant conspiracy theories for decades.
“I’ve had over 100 people working around the clock to scan the paper. These have been sitting in boxes in storage for decades – they have never been scanned or seen before,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during Thursday’s cabinet meeting.
The decision to release the documents by Trump, who faced two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign, was praised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who serves as his health and human services secretary.
RFK Jr., who was 14 when his father was killed in 1968, said he was “grateful” about the release during Thursday’s meeting.
But the King family has fiercely objected to releasing government documents related to the famed civil rights leader’s assassination, saying they want to review the files first.
“For us, the assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years,” the King family said in a Jan. 23 statement. “We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release.”
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights group King founded, filed suit in federal court last week to block the release.
Attorneys for the organization argue that a previous court order requires the records surrounding King’s murder be sealed until January 2027 and that Trump “lacks the authority to compel the disclosure of any assassination records.”
In the filing, two of King’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, argue the FBI “illegally surveilled” their father during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Some of the recordings obtained by federal agents were in the King family home, which they argue was an invasion of privacy.
“We respectfully disagree that the public release of the sealed records is a benefit for our family,” King III said in the filing.
“We also disagree that our family and the general public stand on equal footing with respect to illicit recordings made of our family home. Private spaces by definition exclude the public; our family’s privacy deserves the same protection and respect as any other family in America.”