Former President Donald J. Trump on Friday posted a notable message on Truth Social, the social media platform he launched in 2022, pledging to unseal and declassify “all” documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy if he returns to the White House.
In the post, Trump declared, “When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination related documents. It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!”
The promise comes ahead of the 60th anniversary of the JFK assassination, an event that continues to inspire controversy.
The assassination of JFK, which took place in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, has been the subject of numerous investigations and much speculation over the years.
While the Warren Commission claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald—now purported to be a CIA asset (here, here, here, here)—acted alone in the assassination, many have questioned the commission’s findings, leading to a variety of alternate theories.
The documents related to President Kennedy’s assassination have been largely classified, making them unavailable to the general public.
The unsealing of these documents could potentially answer lingering questions and provide further insights into the circumstances surrounding the assassination.
But this is not the first time Trump promised to declassify these documents.
In October 2017, Trump said he “will be releasing ALL JFK files other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living.”
He would later reveal his intention to follow officials’ recommendations to withhold certain information.
“I agree with the Archivist’s recommendation that the continued withholdings are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure,” he said at the time.
Congress had passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act In 1992, which mandated full disclosure of all documents by 2017.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo was a lead advocate in arguing to the White House for keeping some materials secret, according to a 2017 Reuters report.
Recently, Democrat 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), nephew to President Kennedy, has claimed there is “overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved” in his uncle’s death.
“I think it’s beyond a reasonable doubt at this point,” he said, even though the CIA has denied allegations it was involved in the death of President Kennedy.
Last December, then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson cited a source who claimed to have access to some still hidden CIA documents on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Tucker’s team asked the source, “Did the CIA have a hand in the murder of John F. Kennedy, an American President?”
“The answer is yes. I believe they were involved,” the source said. “It’s a whole different country from what we thought it was. It’s all fake.”
