Crucial JFK information still unreleased: Author James H. Johnston
A missing memorandum documenting a conversation between former President Lyndon B. Johnson and ex-CIA Director John McCone days after President Kennedy's assassination could contain crucial information that was never submitted to the National Archives, according to an author.
James H. Johnston, author of 'Murder, Inc., the CIA under John F. Kennedy,' told NewsNation that the memorandum was written following a private hourlong conversation between Johnson and McCone at the author's residence six days after the former president's death.
His comments come following the release of the remaining classified files on the assassination of Kennedy were released Tuesday on the National Archives website.
'John McCone always wrote a memorandum for the record of any conversation he had with the president,' Johnston said Wednesday on NewsNation's 'Elizabeth Vargas Reports.'
'And that memorandum was not given over to the National Archives and is not available,' he added.
According to Johnston, State Department historians viewed the document in 1997 and noted the conversation included discussion about Cuba and 'how they were going to get rid of [Fidel] Castro.' The full contents of this conversation remain unknown to the public.
Gerald Posner, investigative journalist and author of 'Case Closed, Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK,' acknowledged the document might exist but questioned its relevance to understanding the assassination.
'If there was a large conspiracy to kill the president, the evidence of it is not going to be found in the release of files from the National Archives,' Posner said, suggesting any truly incriminating documents would have been retained or destroyed rather than archived.
Both authors discussed killer Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to Mexico City six weeks before the assassination, where he visited Soviet and Cuban embassies. Posner questioned why the CIA, which had monitored Oswald since his 1959 defection to the Soviet Union, didn't alert the FBI about his concerning behavior following this trip.
Johnston also explained that during this Mexico City visit, Oswald reportedly met with a KGB operative known for assassination operations, though he didn't suggest this directly connected Oswald to Kennedy's assassination.
NewsNation's Ross Coulthart will host a special report, 'Declassified: The JFK Assassination,' this Saturday at 8p/7C. Find out how to watch at NewsNationNow.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Michigan couple, believing prayer would cure baby, gets at least 20 years for child's death
A religious Michigan couple were each sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for the murder of their baby girl after they chose prayer over urgent medical care. A jury found Joshua Piland, 44, and Rachel Piland, 38, guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse following a trial in March, ending an eight-year criminal case against the pair. On Wednesday, both were sentenced by a judge to 20 years to 45 years in prison for each charge, which will run concurrently. 'What you have done … has impacted multiple lives,' Judge James Jamo told Rachel Piland, as he read her sentence, reports the Lansing State Journal. Jamo said there was absolutely no reason to believe that the couple would make better decisions in the future, 'and that means there is a high risk and a need for protection of children.' Baby Abigail was only 61 hours old when she died of a buildup of bilirubin, a treatable condition commonly known as jaundice, at the family's Lansing home in February 2017. Less than a day after her birth, a midwife and her assistant told the mother to get to a hospital for immediate treatment, but the couple declined. Rebecca Kerr, Rachel Piland's mother, also advised her to seek medical care for the newborn, but they refused again base on an extreme religious doctrine. 'We believed (praying) was the best thing we could possibly do for her,' Rachel Piland testified at the trial. 'Even if she had died from some kind of struggle, we wouldn't have called 911.' After the baby was dead, the parents and friends prayed over the lifeless body. Authorities were not immediately contacted to report her death. It was only after a relative in California called police that officers responded to the house, about nine hours after Abigail died. The couple lost custody of their surviving children, two of whom needed the same treatment as Abigail. The state took them away for life-saving medical care and they survived. Lori Vallow Daybell is convicted in her second murder conspiracy case in Arizona Brother of Washington state man wanted for killing daughters speaks out
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Rand Paul: ‘I've never liked the idea of' Trump Army parade
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he 'never liked the idea' of President Trump's military parade, saying while he believes the president 'means well,' but the military parades he remembers growing up were Soviet or North Korean. 'I just never liked the idea of the parade because I grew up in the '70s and '80s and the only parades I can remember are Soviet parades for the most part or North Korean parades,' Paul said when asked about the parade on NBC's 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. 'And the parades I remember from our history were different.' Paul mentioned that previous U.S. military parades were 'rejoicing the end of war' and 'our soldiers coming home,' which 'absolutely ought to be commemorated and discussed every year' through Memorial Day and Veterans Day. 'But we never glorified weapons so much,' he added. 'And I know he means well. I don't think he means for any of this to be depicted in another fashion. But I'm just not a big fan.' The parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army also fell on Trump's 79th birthday and featured military vehicles and members of the Army marching down Constitution Avenue. Many critics of the parade, including Paul, highlighted the cost of the parade, which reached upwards of $45 million. 'I mean, we're $2 trillion in the hole and just an additional cost like this, I'm not for it,' he said. The Kentucky Republican has repeatedly expressed opposition to Trump's tax cut and spending package, or the 'big, beautiful bill,' since its announcement. Last week, Paul was uninvited from the annual White House picnic in an apparent snub to his opposition. 'I just find this incredibly petty,' he said after being informed he was uninvited. 'I have been, I think, nothing but polite to the president.'
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
'Not a big fan': GOP lawmaker criticizes Trump military parade, says it 'glorified weapons'
'Not a big fan': GOP lawmaker criticizes Trump military parade, says it 'glorified weapons' Show Caption Hide Caption Army 250th anniversary parade marches on despite weather worries President Donald Trump's controversial military parade kicked off 30 minutes early to avoid inclement weather. WASHINGTON - Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul criticized the military parade backed by President Donald Trump, arguing the grand event was too expensive for the country and 'glorified' weapons. The June 14 parade, featuring heavy tanks and thousands of troops parading through the streets of Washington, marked the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, which coincidentally fell on Trump's 79th birthday. Paul told NBC News' Kristen Welker on 'Meet the Press' that he 'never liked the idea of the parade.' 'I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and the only parades I can remember are Soviet parades for the most part, or North Korean parades. And the parades I remember from our history were different,' he said, referencing the iconic photograph of a sailor kissing a woman in New York City's Times Square at the end of World War II. 'We were rejoicing the end of war and we were rejoicing our soldiers coming home, and that absolutely ought to be commemorated…but we never glorified weapons so much. And I know he means well. I don't think he means for any of this to be depicted in another fashion, but I'm just not a big fan,' Paul added. Paul also knocked the cost of the parade. 'We're $2 trillion in the hole and just an additional cost like this, I'm not for it,' he said. An Army estimate for its commemoration totaled $40 million, USA TODAY previously reported. Trump defended his decision to stage the parade, saying in remarks on June 14 that, "Every other country celebrates their victories. It's about time America did, too." It's not the first time Paul has bucked Trump in recent weeks. He's also voiced opposition to the president's sweeping tax and domestic policy bill, arguing that it would only balloon the country's budget deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would add roughly $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. The legislation would also have major impacts on Medicaid, taxes, food programs and more. Paul told Welker that he spoke with Trump on June 14 after the parade, and he's not an 'absolute no' on Trump's bill. 'I don't have as much trouble with the tax cuts. I think there should be more spending cuts. But if they want my vote, they'll have to negotiate,' he said.
