The Truth Revealed? Donald Trump Orders Declassification of Files on JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinations — Boasts 'People Are Waiting for This'
Donald Trump ordered the assassination files on JFK, RFK and MLK be made public.
Jan. 23 2025, Published 4:27 p.m. ET
Donald Trump has ordered the declassification of assassination files on civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., former President John F. Kennedy, and former Senator Robert F. Kennedy, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The president signed an executive order pertaining to the files' declassification on Thursday, January 23.
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday, January 23.
For decades, rumors and conspiracy theories on JFK, RFK, and MLK's deaths have swirled. While on the campaign trail, Trump vowed to put an end to speculation by ordering their files to be made public.
As Trump sat with a sharpie in hand behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, an aide announced the executive order the president was about to sign was "ordering the declassification of files relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr."
After he signed the order, Trump said: "That's a big one, huh? A lot of people are waiting for this for a long — for years, for decades."
Trump noted the executive order was 'a big one.'
Trump then asked his aide to give the sharpie he used to sign the order to the late senator's son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is also his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
A portion of the JFK assassination files were released in 2022 and the National Archives and Records Administration announced about 97 percent of the file's five million pages had been made public.
Now, the president has circled back to a promise he made during his first administration – and again during his recent campaign – to release the remaining documents.
Conspiracy theories alleged JFK included a hit ordered by the CIA, KGB or Fidel Castro.
The executive order additionally follows through on a 1992 Congressional mandate stating all assassination files were to be made public within 25 years.
In the six decades since King, JFK and RFK were gunned down, numerous conspiracy theories have been presented about their murders.
Some theories claimed President Kennedy was killed by the CIA, while others speculated his death was the result of a hit ordered by the mafia, Fidel Castro or the KGB.
A 1999 civil jury concluded MLK's death was the result of government involvement and several others.
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When RFK was assassinated in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in California, some questioned if his death was the result of the CIA, despite Sirhan Sirhan being convicted of his murder.
Rumors also highlighted the possibility of a second gunman, including a mystery woman donning a polka dot dress who claimed to be responsible for the crime.
The theories were looked at in a Senate investigation, but were eventually deemed false by FBI investigators who worked on the Senate's behalf.
As for Reverend King's assassination, conspiracy theories once again centered on government involvement.
King was fatally shot in 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
While his assassin, James Earl Ray, initially admitted to the crime, he later recanted his confession and claimed it was forced. His guilty plea eliminated the possibility of trial by jury. The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded there was a likelihood of conspiracy and Ray may have been used as a scapegoat.
Conspiracy theories of government involvement were raised based off illegal surveillance of King by the FBI and CIA.
Following a 1999 civil lawsuit, a jury reached an unanimous verdict that King was assassinated as a result of government involvement, a person identified as "Raoul," and others.
Coretta Scott King said at the time: "There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband."
