President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday ordering the declassification of the government’s files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, Trump can be signing executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. After a Trump aide explained that the final executive order for the president to sign was regarding the declassification of the highly-anticipated assassination files, Trump said, “That’s a big one. A lot of people were waiting for this for years, for decades, and everything will be revealed.”
Immediately after signing the executive order on Thursday, Trump instructed his staff to give the pen he used to sign the historic order to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who endorsed him during the 2024 presidential election and has been nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Handing the pen to his aide, Trump said, “Give that to RFK Jr.”
Fox News reported that Trump promised the American people during the 2024 presidential campaign to release the classified files regarding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. The president’s promise came after he had pledged to release the John F. Kennedy assassination files during his first administration but later blocked the release of hundreds of records pertaining to the assassination.
According to Fox News, Trump indicated at the time that the potential harm to the country’s national security, foreign affairs, and law enforcement activities that could be caused by the release of the files was “of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.”
However, in Trump’s executive order on Thursday, the president wrote, “I have now 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 the release of these records is long overdue.”
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Trump added, “And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”
Asked about Trump’s decision to declassify the assassination files, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters, “I think it’s a great move because we need to have more transparency in our government, and he’s keeping his promise to have the government tell the truth to the American people about everything.”
