Trump releases files related to MLK assassination, despite King family opposition
President Donald Trump's administration on Monday released over 240,000 pages of records surrounding the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a move made despite objections from some of the civil rights icon's family.
Over 240,000 pages of records have been made available on the website of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The Washington, D.C.-based agency says the release is in response to an executive order from Trump's White House dating back to January.
King's family objected to the release, saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation's surveillance of the progressive leader was tainted by the agency's political bent at the time.
"We recognize that the release of documents concerning the assassination of our father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has long been a subject of interest, captivating public curiosity for decades," the family said in a statement. But "the release of these files must be viewed within their full historical context. During our father's lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Hoover's goal, the family says, was to find dirt on MLK in order to discredit him and the civil rights movement.
Documents related to the King assassination are the latest trove of materials to be made public through Executive Order 14176. The Jan. 23, 2025 order also called for the release of materials related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Files related to the JFK assassination were released in March.
The full findings of the government investigations into the three killings have been hidden for decades, sparking wide-ranging speculation and preventing a sense of closure for many Americans. All three men were national and international icons whose assassinations — and the theories swirling around them — became the stuff of books, movies, controversy, and the pages of history itself.
Trump's move to declassify the materials related to MLK also comes amid a political firestorm in Washington over the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the former financier and convicted sex offender who died while awaiting trial in 2019.
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