WASHINGTON. U.S. President Donald Trump has released a substantial collection of documents related to the 1963 assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, fulfilling a campaign pledge to enhance transparency regarding the historic event in Dallas, Texas.
The first batch of electronic files was made available on the National Archives website, with over 80,000 documents expected to be published following an extensive review by Justice Department lawyers. Among the released materials are classified memos, including one marked “secret,” detailing a 1964 interview by a Warren Commission researcher. The document includes handwritten notes about an inquiry into inconsistencies found in information provided by the State Department and the CIA concerning marriages between Soviet women and American men.
The files also reference conspiracy theories suggesting that Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, returned from the Soviet Union in 1962 with the intention of killing the president. Some Department of Defense documents from 1963 discuss Cold War tensions, particularly U.S. efforts to counter Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s support of communist movements in Latin America.
One document states that while Castro would likely avoid actions that could trigger a war with the U.S. or put his regime at immediate risk, he might still “intensify his support of subversive forces in Latin America.”
A Push for Full Disclosure
Trump had signed an order shortly after taking office in January mandating the release of the assassination-related documents. In response, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified thousands of previously unseen files related to the Kennedy assassination. The urgency of complying with Trump’s directive prompted the U.S. Justice Department to assign national-security lawyers to review the materials swiftly, as revealed in a Monday evening email obtained by Reuters.
“President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency,” said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a post on X.
Despite the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone, public skepticism remains. Opinion polls indicate that many Americans believe Kennedy’s assassination was the result of a conspiracy. However, experts remain doubtful that the newly released documents will alter the established narrative that Oswald fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository as Kennedy’s motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza.
“People expecting big things are almost certain to be disappointed,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and author of a book on the assassination. He suggested that some of the newly published pages may simply contain previously available material with minor redactions removed.
Future Releases and CIA Allegations
Trump has also vowed to declassify documents related to the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were killed in 1968. Additional time has been granted to determine the appropriate plan for releasing those records.
Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late senator and nephew of John F. Kennedy, has publicly alleged that the CIA was involved in his uncle’s assassination—an accusation the agency has consistently denied as baseless. Kennedy Jr. has also argued that his father was murdered by multiple gunmen, contradicting the official narrative.
One of the lingering questions surrounding the JFK assassination is the extent of the CIA’s knowledge of Oswald’s activities before the killing. Specifically, inquiries remain about Oswald’s visit to Mexico City six weeks before the assassination, during which he met with officials at the Soviet embassy.
“People have been waiting for decades for this,” Trump stated. “It’s going to be very interesting.”
