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Fox News
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Extra: A Deep Dive Into The JFK Files
For decades, there have been numerous conspiracy theories related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. President Trump's recent release of thousands of pages of files was intended to shed light on the murder. FOX News Rundown host Lisa Brady recently spoke with Gerald Posner, an American investigative journalist and the author of 'Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK.' Posner has investigated the assassination and the conspiracy theories for decades. He went through some of the new information released and explained why nothing changed his belief that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he shot the President. We often must cut interviews short during the week, but we thought you might like to hear the full interview. Today on Fox News Rundown Extra, we will share our entire interview with author and journalist Gerald Posner. We will get even more of his take on the JFK assassination and why he thinks some of the most popular conspiracy theories cannot be true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Fox News
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
A New Approach To Addressing America's National Security Threats
While President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency have kept their promise to cut government waste, there have been cuts at the Department of Defense, concerning some about Americas' ability to protect itself against foreign adversaries. Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1), announced that the 2025 Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment Full Committee Hearing will be held on Wednesday. He discusses what he thinks are the major adversaries the U.S. should watch out for and how to maintain strong alliances to address these threats. The Chairman also describes the ongoing war in Ukraine and how the Trump Administration can assist in a peaceful resolution with Russia. For decades, there have been numerous conspiracy theories related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. President Trump's recent release of thousands of pages of files was intended to shed light on the murder. Gerald Posner, American investigative journalist and the author 'Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK,' reveals why, despite the new information, he still thinks Oswald acted alone. Plus, commentary from former NCAA athlete Minna Svard. Photo Credit: AP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
JFK's killing has fascinated America for 60 years. But will any new info come out of classified files release?
President Donald Trump has ordered the declassification of all files related to the 1963 assassination of then-president John F. Kennedy - and FBI officials say they have found thousands more pages of docs ready for the public. But should the world expect much from them? The answer is murky, at best. That still didn't stop Trump from signing an executive order directing the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to present a plan for the 'full and complete release of records' related to the assassination by February 7. The executive order also calls for similar disclosure of documents related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by next month. The president promised to declassify all documents related to Kennedy's assassination while on the campaign trail after he delayed doing so in his first term. Here's what we know about the files — and what to expect from them: What are the JFK files? In the 1990s, the federal government stored all files related to Kennedy's assassination in a single collection at the National Archives and Records Administration. Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed Kennedy as he rode through Dallas in his motorcade on November 22, 1963. Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby two days later as he was being transferred to a county jail. All documents were set to be declassified in 2017 — during what became Trump's first term. While Trump said he would declassify all documents in 2017, he still barred some from release due to national security concerns, the Associated Press reported. Former president Joe Biden went on to release another chunk of documents in 2022, but several remain classified. Trump regretted withhold the doc for years, Axios reported, motivating him to work towards declassification during his second term. Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, told the Associated Press in November there are likely about 3,000 to 4,000 documents that haven't been fully released. The FBI announced Tuesday that investigators discovered some 2,400 new documents that were 'previously unrecognized as related to the JFK assassination case file' as they carried out Trump's executive order. It's unclear what the records contain. The FBI now says it is working to transfer the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration to be included in the declassification process. These newly discovered files could be relevant to a 2022 lawsuit filed by the Mary Ferrell Foundation against the Biden administration, which alleges the federal government had more documents than it was letting on related to the assassination, Axios reported. The lawsuit claims these hidden files include recordings of crime boss Carlos Marcello, who claimed he was involved in the assassination, along with the CIA files of Officer George Joannides, Axios reports. The officer worked on a CIA-funded exile group in New Orleans that Oswald interacted with in the weeks leading up to the shooting. What are the most common conspiracies involved in the 1963 killing? The most prevalent conspiracy theory about the assassination is that Oswald, a former marine and communist activist who spent time in the Soviet Union, didn't act alone. While a probe carried out by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded Oswald was the sole person involved, academics and historians have criticized his investigation, CBS News reported. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, the House established a Select Committee on Assassinations to reinvestigate the assassination in 1976, The Washington Post noted. The committee yet again determined Oswald acted alone, but noted there was 'probably' a conspiracy involving a second gunman on the 'grassy knoll' overlooking the road Kennedy's motorcade was driving on, according to the Post. While the second gunman theory has since been discredited, it has continued to fuel theories that Oswald had a partner. Another popular theory centers around 'Umbrella Man,' a person in the crowd seen holding a black umbrella despite it being a sunny day. Theorists have speculated man used the umbrella to shoot a dart into Kennedy's neck, immobilizing him and allowing Oswald to land the deadly shot. But that 1976 House committee found Umbrella Man: Louie Steven Witt. During a hearing, Witt revealed the umbrella had absolutely no dart- or bullet-firing mechanisms — and that he brought it to watch Kennedy's motorcade to heckle the then-president, the Post reports. Witt said it was a 'bad joke' referencing the black umbrella carried by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the Post reports, who argued in favor of appeasing some of Adolf Hitler's demands during World War II and was supported by the then-president's father Joseph Kennedy. Why are some so interested in the JFK files? Stephen Fagin, curator of a museum about the assassination in Dallas, told the Associated Press many people are interested because they don't feel the current answers are adequate. 'People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime,' Fagin said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has previously called for full disclosure. The cabinet nominee, who is the nephew of President Kennedy and the son of Senator Kennedy, also believes both their assassinations were part of a wider conspiracy, Axios reported. The already-released files have also helped historians better understand the CIA's operations during the Cold War, national security attorney Mark Zaid told the Associated Press. Who is leading the current investigation into the Kennedy assassination? Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, is leading a Congressional task force aimed at exposing 'federal secrets,' which will re-investigate Kennedy's assassination following Trump's declassification order. Luna doesn't believe Oswald acted alone. 'Based on what I've been seeing so far, the initial hearing that was actually held here in Congress was actually faulty in the single-bullet theory,' Luna told reporters Tuesday. 'There's been conflicting evidence, and I think that even the FBI at the time reported some anomalies in the initial autopsy at Bethesda, Maryland,' she added. Her task force will also investigate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. What to expect in the release? Now, historians are hopeful to see even more documents that enhance their understanding of the time period — but most aren't expecting any big revelations on the assassination. 'If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,' Posner told the AP in November. 'Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that's going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,' Posner added. But, after the FBI revealed the 2,400 new documents this week, new questions are being raised. 'If they are really new assassination documents, then it raises a whole bunch of questions about how they were missed for all of these years,' Posner told the Associated Press this week.
USA Today
12-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
FBI finds 2,400 new documents linked to JFK assassination
FBI finds 2,400 new documents linked to JFK assassination The bureau found 2,400 newly inventoried, digitized records previously unassociated with the investigation. Show Caption Hide Caption JFK's grandson slams Trump's order to release assassination files Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former US President John F. Kennedy, criticized Trump for ordering the release of classified files on JFK's assassination. unbranded - Newsworthy What did the CIA know about Lee Harvey Oswald, and when did they know it? The answers may lie in 2,400 documents newly linked to the 1963 assassination of former President John F. Kennedy in Dallas after a records review conducted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI search was prompted by President Donald Trump's push to release details about one of the nation's most notorious and hotly debated crimes, including formerly classified intelligence and law enforcement files. "The question for me is not whether the CIA was complicit, but whether the CIA was negligent," said Gerald Posner, author of "Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK." Posner, who believes Oswald acted alone, said it would be "a big story" if the records reveal the CIA knew more than it let on about the gunman believed solely responsible for the assassination. One other glaring question, however, is: Why are these records only coming to light now, 62 years later? The FBI said Tuesday it conducted the records review after Trump's executive order in January calling for declassification of records related to the assassination of the nation's 35th president. "More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events," the White House release stated. "It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay." Trump's order also called for the nation's security agencies to come up with plans to release documents related to the 1968 assassinations of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the former president's brother and a presidential candidate, but has allowed more time for those. Polls show skepticism remains about lone assassin theory The Justice Department and other federal government entities have reaffirmed conclusions that Oswald was solely responsible for the killing of the former president. However, polls have shown many Americans believe Kennedy's death was part of a wider conspiracy, and Posner said details remain lacking about what the Central Intelligence Agency knew about Oswald's visits to Mexico City, including the Soviet embassy there, six weeks before the assassination. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department and the son of Robert Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy, has expressed belief that the CIA was involved in his uncle's death, an allegation denied by the agency. Kennedy Jr. has also said he believes his father was killed by multiple gunmen, contradicting official accounts. The newly linked documents aren't likely to support conspiracy theories about Oswald's role as anything more than a lone-wolf gunman, historians say. "I suspect that we won't get anything too dramatic in the releases, or anything that fundamentally overturns our understanding of what occurred in Dallas," said Fredrik Logevall, a professor of history at Harvard University in Boston. Logevall said he was prepared to be surprised. Fascination has swirled for decades around the killing of one of the nation's most storied leaders, unspooling vast material for film, literature, historical accounts and pop culture. Kennedy was fatally shot as his presidential motorcade rolled through downtown Dallas, and Oswald, arrested soon after, was himself fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby on live television while being transferred to a county jail two days later. Not everyone is happy about the declassification of records related to the assassination. Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy's grandson, issued a statement decrying Trump's executive order. 'The truth is a lot sadder than the myth — a tragedy that didn't need to happen," he wrote in a since-deleted post. "Not part of an inevitable grand scheme. Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he's not here to punch back . . . There's nothing heroic about it.' Whatever the files contain, they aren't likely to settle any debates, said Alice L. George, author of "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Political Trauma and American Memory." "I can't imagine any document that would convince (conspiracy theorists) that Oswald acted alone," George said. "Particularly among people who are really invested in that way of thinking. It's going to probably leave them in the same place where they are now." Contributing: Reuters
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Everything historians hope to glean from the JFK files
For decades conspiracy theorists have pointed to the US government's refusal to release the John F Kennedy files as evidence of a cover-up of the former president's assassination. So Donald Trump's assurance that 'everything will be revealed' when he signed an executive order to declassify the trove of redacted documents will have set some high expectations. But experts on the 22 November 1963 assassination in Dallas, Texas, unanimously believe those hoping for a 'smoking gun' to rewrite history will be bitterly disappointed. The release, however, could provide some revelations to help shed light on how much the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) really knew about shooter Lee Harvey Oswald ahead of the killing. There are still around 3,000 redacted files held by The National Archives and Records Administration, including some 500 of which have been redacted in full, although most of these relate to tax returns for Oswald and his killer Jack Ruby. This is what experts and historians think could be gleaned from the release. When more than 13,000 documents related to the 1963 assassination were released in 2022, JFK academics and theorists had hoped it would reveal more information about Oswald's activities in Mexico City, where he met the KGB officer in October 1963. Oswald had visited Mexico City several weeks before he assassinated Mr Kennedy to obtain a visa allowing him to defect to Cuba. Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, said he hopes the files will reveal more information about the CIA surveillance of Oswald's visit. The file he is most eagerly awaiting is a 50-page document he says includes Mexican intelligence information that was gathered on Oswald and provided to the CIA, of which 30 pages are currently redacted. 'The CIA definitely has surveillance, maybe they had human assets, intelligence, an informant inside one or more of the [Cuban or Soviet] missions there,' he told The Telegraph. 'What did they know about his visit? They've always said they knew very little. 'Did they know that he took a pistol out at one point and slammed it on the desk of a KGB agent and the Soviet mission thought he was unstable? Did they realise that he was as unhinged as he appeared to be in Mexico City? Because, if so, what they should have done when he returned to the United States is handed it off to the FBI... They certainly didn't do that.' 'That would be terribly embarrassing for the CIA. Not only did it happen, but that they kept it under wraps for 60 years', he added. Fredrik Logevall, history professor at the Harvard Kennedy School agreed such detail could be revealed in the classified documents. 'It's possible that the new materials will underscore what previous releases have shown: that US intelligence agencies knew more about Oswald and his activities than was originally known', he said. 'The CIA may have failed to report some of its knowledge about him to the FBI.' The documents could include further details on the Special Group Augmented (SGA), which included Robert F Kennedy and former National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy. Professor Larry Sabato said the group's aim was 'to get rid of Fidel Castro and communism in Cuba before JFK's re-election.' 'This group met... more often than you might expect, given how busy things are in the White House and notes were kept, I suppose, because we were all busy, and maybe they forgot things', he said. 'But the release of some of this information has occurred, the problem is it tells us enough to tantalise us, and then redacts what we really want to know. I want to see the redactions now.' Mr Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Centre for Politics and author of The Kennedy Half-Century, said the partially redacted documents suggest the group were plotting events in and out of Cuba to embarrass Castro. One of the reasons some of the documents remain redacted is because they are thought to contain information about informants working for the CIA. Although the majority will no longer be alive, there are concerns that publishing the names could put the former informants and their families in danger. 'I want to know the names so I can do some research on them', Mr Sabato said. 'Obviously they're dead, but you can research them, you can find out what is on the public record about them and maybe you can be led to others, children at the time, or grandchildren, or whatever, you can find out certain things... it's better than knowing nothing', he said. But Mark Zaid, a lawyer who has fought for the release records, says such names come into a category of documents Mr Trump cannot declassify with a stroke of his Sharpie. 'I expect that there will be pushback from the intelligence community,' he says 'Some of the records are because we have human assets who worked inside the Cuban and Soviet embassies in Mexico City... some of them were in their 20s. 'They could be in their 80s, maybe 90s, and if you're talking about... would Cuba or Russia take retaliatory action against someone who would be considered a traitor to their country even six decades ago? 'You'd best expect that yes, they would, and they might even take action against their family members decades younger.' While they won't shed light on the planning of the assassination attempt, Mr Posner expects the notes historian William Manchester took from his interview with Jackie Kennedy to be included in the unredacted files. Mr Manchester spoke to Mrs Kennedy after her husband's death. The tapes of the interviews cannot be released owing to an agreement with the Kennedy family that they would not be made public until 2067, but Mr Posner says Mr Manchester's notes could be unsealed. 'They may not tell us anything about a grassy alt-shooter or conspiracy, but I think that people are going to want to know about that because it's a human story, it's not about ballistics and bullet angles.' All the experts The Telegraph spoke to were unconvinced that Mr Trump could unseal all the redacted files. A trove of documents have been declassified in recent years, but scores of them remained redacted during Mr Trump and Joe Biden's administrations. In his order, Mr Trump directed his attorney general and director of national intelligence to give him a plan within 15 days 'for the full and complete release of records' relating to the assassination. Mr Zaid said there are hundreds of documents he does not think the president has the authority to release. For example, tax returns are protected by statute, he said. There are also records which have been sealed by courts. To release them, the Justice Department would have to go to the courts directly and order them to unseal it. 'The President can't just flout an order of a court that sealed the records', he said. There are also a number of items that are subject to deeds of gift and access is overseen by the Kennedy family. Such items include autopsy photographs and Mrs Kennedy's dress from the day of the assassination. Mr Sobata is not confident Mr Trump will deliver on his promise to make everything public. 'Unfortunately, I'm in my seventies and I'll be dead before we know all the information, but I've got people who will come to my grave site yelling', he said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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