Trump administration releases thousands more pages of JFK assassination records
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'In accordance with President Donald Trump's directive of March 17, 2025, all records previously withheld for classification that are part of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection are released,' the National Archives said in a statement on its website. 'As of March 18, 2025, the records are available to access either online at this page or in person, via hard copy or on analog media formats, at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. As the records continue to be digitized, they will be
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Trump had promised Monday to release about 80,000 pages of documents, but it initially was unclear how many actual pages were in the 1,123 pdfs posted on the site early Tuesday night.
The release of the documents comes as Americans continue to doubt the official government determination by the high-level Warren Commission in 1964 that Oswald acted alone in shooting Kennedy as he rode in a convertible in a motorcade through downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Another investigation more than a decade later by the House Select Committee on Assassinations agreed that Oswald fired the shots that hit Kennedy, but said acoustical evidence showed a 'high probability' a second gunman fired and concluded the murder probably was the result of a conspiracy possibly involving organized crime.
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With the US in the middle of the Cold War, the records involved in both of those investigations were classified, helping fuel conspiracy theories that the Mafia and/or the CIA were behind the assassination. A 2023
Millions of pages of classified documents have been released over the years, including tens of thousands by Trump in his first term and later by Biden. The releases followed a 1992 law that ordered a search for any remaining records, with those found to be transferred to the National Archives and released no more than 25 years later, with an exception for documents with national security concerns.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services,
'In terms of my uncle's death, the evidence is overwhelming the CIA was involved in the murder and then the coverup,'
After receiving Kennedy Jr.'s endorsement last year, Trump announced he would order the release of all of the remaining documents about the 1963 presidential assassination 'as a tribute to Bobby.'
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 23 declassifying the remaining files related to President Kennedy's assassination as well as sealed records of the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who also was killed in 1968. Trump asked an aide to give the pen he used to sign the order to RFK Jr.
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The order gave the director of National Intelligence and other officials 15 days to present a plan for release of the John F. Kennedy assassination records and 45 days for the other files.
Last month, the FBI said it had found 2,400 new records related to President Kennedy's assassination. But no timeline was issued for the release of the records. Pressure built on the Trump administration to release them from lawmakers such as Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who was tapped last month to lead a House Oversight Committee Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, and from former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
Carlson said on his show last Friday that there was 'active pressure' on elected officials to stop the disclosure.
'Who is powerful enough to scare people into slow-walking the disclosure?' Carlson said. 'I think it's very important to get to the bottom of the JFK thing.'
On Monday, Trump told reporters he would release approximately 80,000 pages of documents – more than assassination experts expected.
'You've got a lot of reading. I don't believe we're going to redact anything,' Trump said. 'It's going to be very interesting.
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at
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