Trump Signs Order to Declassify Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and King Assassination Records
On January 23, 2025, at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14176, "Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," directing that all federal records relating to the three assassinations be released to the public.
The order states that more than 50 years after the assassinations, the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events, that their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth, and that it is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.
Section 2 of the order sets two deadlines. Within 15 days, the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Counsel to the President, must present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Within 45 days, they must review the records related to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and present a plan for the full and complete release of those records.
The order recounts the legal background of the Kennedy records: the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 required all records related to the assassination to be publicly disclosed in full by October 26, 2017, unless the President certified that continued postponement was necessary. President Trump accepted proposed redactions in 2017 and 2018 while ordering continued re-evaluation; President Biden then issued certifications in 2021, 2022 and 2023 giving agencies additional time to review the records and withhold information.
In the order, Trump determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and that the release of the records is long overdue, and that although no Act of Congress directs the release of information on the other two assassinations, releasing all records in the Federal Government's possession pertaining to each of them is also in the public interest. Declassifying the assassination records was a pledge Trump made repeatedly during his campaign.
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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