President Donald Trump has pledged to declassify all remaining documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. The announcement came during a speech Sunday night, on the eve of his inauguration.
Trump’s remarks included a broader commitment to increasing government transparency. “As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,” he stated.
He further promised that in the coming days, records concerning the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, along with “other topics of great public interest,” would be made public.
🚨TRUMP: "In the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." pic.twitter.com/O3CI2ncoNP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 19, 2025
The timing of Trump’s announcement is particularly significant, as his inauguration coincides with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday commemorating the civil rights leader.
In July, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew parallels between attempts on Trump’s life and the assassinations of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy.
He described the climate surrounding his uncle’s assassination as one of deep national division and hostility.
“When my uncle landed in Dallas on November 22, 1963, there were posters all around Dallas that said, ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’” RFK Jr. recounted. “The Dallas newspapers were printing very, very poisonous articles about him. His death, in some ways, was linked to that wave of hatred.”
The younger Kennedy went on to discuss the assassination of his father, Robert F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles five years after JFK’s death. RFK had been running for president in 1968, a year that Kennedy described as the most polarized and divisive time in American history since the Civil War.
“There was terrible anger on all sides,” RFK Jr. noted. “Part of the eruption of that anger was not only the riots we were seeing in the cities that year, but also Martin Luther King’s assassination. And then, two months later, my father’s assassination. All of it is connected, and it’s connected to each of us.”
Kennedy urged Americans to reflect on their own behavior and strive to find unity in the face of division. “Hopefully, we can make something good of this,” he added, emphasizing the importance of collective responsibility in addressing societal unrest.