Trump administration releases flood of FBI records on Martin Luther King Jr.
The Trump administration has released records of the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate's family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination.
The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
In a lengthy statement released Monday, King's two living children, Martin Luther King III, 67, and Bernice, 62, said their father's assassination has been a "captivating public curiosity for decades." But the pair emphasized the personal nature of the matter, urging that the files "be viewed within their full historical context."
The Kings got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the documents would shed any new light on King's life, the civil rights movement or his murder.
"As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief — a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met — an absence our family has endured for over 57 years," they wrote. "We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family's continuing grief."
They also repeated the family's long-held contention that James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating King, was not solely responsible, if at all.
Bernice King was five years old when her father was killed. Martin III was 10.
Trump orders files on assassinations of JFK, MLK, RFK to be declassified | Canada Tonight
6 months ago
'Unprecedented' disclosure: Gabbard
A statement from the office of U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called the disclosure "unprecedented" and said many of the records had been digitized for the first time to make it possible.
She praised U.S. President Donald Trump for pushing the issue.
Trump promised as a candidate to release files related to U.S. president John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. When Trump took office in January, he signed an executive order to declassify the JFK records, along with files associated with the 1968 assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and King.
The government unsealed the JFK records in March and disclosed some RFK files in April.
The announcement from Gabbard's office included a statement from Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, who is an outspoken conservative and has broken from King's children on various topics — including the FBI files. Alveda King said she was "grateful to President Trump" for his "transparency."
Separately Monday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's social media account featured a picture of the attorney general with Alveda King in her office.
Attempt to distract from Epstein: Sharpton
Besides fulfilling Trump's executive order, the latest release serves as another alternative headline for the president as he tries to mollify supporters angry over his administration's handling of records concerning the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of trafficking underage girls.
Trump last Friday ordered the U.S. Justice Department to release grand jury testimony relating to the Epstein case, but stopped short of unsealing the entire file.
Bernice King and Martin Luther King III did not mention Trump in their statement Monday.
Some civil rights activists were not so sparing.
"Trump releasing the MLK assassination files is not about transparency or justice," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unravelling of his credibility among the MAGA base."
WATCH | Why Trump's base is disappointed over Epstein files:
Semafor's David Weigel on deepening disappointment among Trump loyalists over the Epstein files
2 days ago
Get the latest on CBCNews.ca, the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysis
The King records were initially intended to be sealed until 2027, until U.S. Justice Department attorneys asked a federal judge to lift the sealing order ahead of its expiration date.
Scholars, history buffs and journalists have been preparing to study the documents to find new information about King's assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., where he was aiding striking sanitation workers.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King co-founded in 1957 as the civil rights movement blossomed, opposed the release.
They, along with King's family, argued that the FBI illegally surveilled King and other civil rights figures, tapping their offices and phone lines with the aim of discrediting them and their movement.
It has long been established that then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was intensely interested if not obsessed with King and others that he considered radicals. FBI records released previously show how Hoover's bureau wiretapped King's telephone lines, bugged his hotel rooms and used informants to get information against him.
"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 (FBI)," the King children said in their statement.
The Kings said they "support transparency and historical accountability" but "object to any attacks on our father's legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods."
King's children suggest Ray was set up
Ray plead guilty to assassinating King. He later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998.
Members of King's family, and others, have long questioned whether Ray acted alone, or if he was even involved.
Coretta Scott King asked for the probe to be reopened, and in 1998, then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno directed the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department to take a new look. The Justice Department said it "found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King."
In their latest statement, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III repeated their assertions that Ray was set up, pointing to a 1999 civil case in which a Memphis jury in a wrongful death case concluded that Martin Luther King Jr. had been the target of a conspiracy.
"As we review these newly released files," the Kings said, "we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Trump's tariff threats against Canada face legal hurdles ahead of August deadline
Donald Trump's plan to realign global trade faces its latest legal barrier this week in a federal appeals court — and Canada is bracing for the U.S. president to follow through on his threat to impose higher tariffs. Article content While Trump set an Aug. 1 deadline for countries to make trade deals with the United States, the president's ultimatum has so far resulted in only a handful of frameworks for trade agreements. Article content Article content Article content Deals have been announced for Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom — but Trump indicated last week that an agreement with Canada is far from complete. Article content Trump sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney threatening to impose 35 per cent tariffs if Canada doesn't make a trade deal by the deadline. The White House has said those duties would not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Article content Article content Countries around the world will also be watching as Trump's use of a national security statute to hit nations with tariffs faces scrutiny in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Article content The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled in May that Trump does not have the authority to wield tariffs on nearly every country through the use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977. Article content The act, usually referred to by the acronym IEEPA, gives the U.S. president authority to control economic transactions after declaring an emergency. No previous president had ever used it for tariffs and the U.S. Constitution gives power over taxes and tariffs to Congress. Article content Article content The Trump administration quickly appealed the lower court's ruling on the so-called 'Liberation Day' and fentanyl-related tariffs and arguments are set to be heard in the appeal court on Thursday. Article content George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin called Trump's tariff actions a 'massive power grab.' Somin, along with the Liberty Justice Center, is representing the American small businesses.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
U.S. says tariff deadline of Aug 1 is firm, no extensions
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to members of the media after he arrived at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire, Scotland, Friday, July 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) WASHINGTON — The U.S. deadline of August 1 for imposing tariffs on its trading partners is firm and there will be no extensions, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday. 'So no extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go,' Lutnick told 'Fox News Sunday.' After the levies kick in, U.S. President Donald Trump -- who was negotiating Sunday in Scotland with European Union officials -- is still willing to keep talking, Lutnick said. Of the Europeans, Lutnick said, 'You know they're hoping they make a deal, and it's up to President Trump, who's the leader of this negotiating table. We set the table.' So far five countries have struck deals with the Trump administration ahead of the Friday deadline as it tries to overhaul the global system of largely free trade by slapping tariffs on countries that the United States deems as engaging in unfair practices. These five are Britain, Vietnam, Indonesia the Philippines, and Japan. The levies they accepted are often higher than the new base rate of 10 percent that the United States has applied to most countries since April. But they are far below the levels the Trump administration threatened to impose if no deal were reached. AFP
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
Six of 11 injured during Michigan Walmart knife attack in critical condition, man in custody: police
Chaos unfolded at a Walmart in Michigan after a man burst into the store during a calm shopping afternoon and stabbed 11 people at random, authorities say. The attack on Saturday left six victims in critical condition and a suspect in custody. Article content The 42-year-old suspect entered the store shortly before 5 p.m. and used a folding knife to stab the victims, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on social media. Their ages weren't immediately known. Article content Article content Article content Steven Carter was loading his truck in the Walmart parking lot when he saw a man cut a woman's throat with a knife. Article content About five minutes later, the man was surrounded by shoppers in the parking lot, including one who was holding a gun. The group of five or six people kept yelling to the man 'drop the knife,' he said, and the man responded: 'I don't care, I don't care.' He kept backing away from the crowd, before someone tackled and subdued him. Article content 'At first, it was disbelief. I thought maybe it was like a terror attack,' said Carter, who delivers customer orders from Walmart. 'And then it was fear, disbelief, shock. And that was, it was just amazing. And it all happened fast. Like he was totally subdued on the ground by the time police arrived.' Article content Article content Emergency vehicles and uniformed first responders gathered in the parking lot of the shopping center that houses several other retail stores. Authorities also were seen interviewing employees, still wearing blue uniform vests and name tags, nearby as the response gave way to an investigation. Article content Article content Tiffany DeFell, 36, who lives in Honor, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Traverse City, said she was in the store's parking lot when she saw chaos erupt around her. Article content Article content 'It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,' she said. 'This is something you see out of the movies. It's not what you expect to see where you're living.' Article content Munson Healthcare said via social media that 11 people were being treated at the region's largest hospital in northern Michigan. Spokesperson Megan Brown said all were stabbing victims. As of Sunday morning, Brown said, four of the victims were in serious condition, and seven were in fair condition. 'We've have seen encouraging signs of recovery among our patients,' Brown said. Article content Sheriff Michael Shea said the weapon involved appeared to be a folding-style knife. Shea said the suspect is believed to be a Michigan resident but declined to share further details. Michigan State Police had said earlier in the day that the suspect was in authorities' custody.
