U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday at the Kennedy Center that he will release the unedited files related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Tuesday, fulfilling one of his longest-standing campaign promises.
“Tomorrow, we will make all the Kennedy files public. People have been waiting decades for this,” Trump told reporters while touring the Kennedy Center. “I have instructed my team, made up of various individuals under the coordination of [Director of National Intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard, to ensure the documents are released tomorrow.”
Trump also noted the vast amount of material. “We have a tremendous number of documents—there’s a lot to read. I don’t think we’ll edit anything. I said, ‘Don’t edit, you simply cannot edit,’” he emphasized.
When asked if the White House had prepared an executive summary for his review, Trump firmly responded, “No way, I’m not doing summaries.” He also mentioned that the total number of documents to be released amounts to approximately 80,000 pages.
One of Trump’s first actions upon taking office in January was signing an order to release files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. In February, the FBI reported that a new search had uncovered approximately 2,400 additional records related to JFK’s assassination.
In 2023, the National Archives completed its review of classified documents concerning Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, confirming that 99% of them were already publicly available, according to CNN.
However, despite previous promises from multiple presidents, including Trump himself, the CIA, the Pentagon, and the State Department still withhold certain documents. According to these agencies, the primary reason for keeping them classified is to protect the identities of confidential sources who may still be alive, as well as to safeguard intelligence methods.
During his presidency, Trump agreed to delay the full release of the files at the request of national security agencies. However, during his 2024 campaign, he reaffirmed his commitment to fully declassify the remaining documents.
