Trump vows to reveal all secret files related to the Kennedy assassination

Former US President Donald Trump has announced that he will release all classified files related to the assassination of former President John F Kennedy if he is re-elected in 2024.

Trump’s statement came after his Democratic challenger, Robert Kennedy Jr., said last week that there was overwhelming evidence that the CIA was involved in his uncle’s death.

“I’ve fired a lot, you know, and I’ll declassify everything else,” Trump said on Monday.

In 2018, the Trump administration wrote in a memo that records related to the JFK assassination were withheld because “certain information must continue to be deleted due to national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns”.

“I concur with the archivist’s recommendation,” the memo continued, adding, “continued seizures are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that outweighs the public interest in prompt disclosure”.

The Trump administration has ordered the agencies to revisit each of those revisions over the next three years.

It also required agencies to disclose information that no longer warrants continued withholding.

Before leaving Fox News, journalist Tucker Carlson reported that he had spoken to someone with direct knowledge of the JFK assassination.

When asked by Carlson if the CIA had a role in JFK’s assassination, the source said, “The answer is yes, I think they were involved… It’s a very different country than we thought it was”.

In 1992, then-President George H. Bush, then Director of the CIA, signed a law mandating public disclosure of all documents related to JFK.

However, successive administrations, including that of President Joe Biden, have refrained from releasing the documents in their entirety.

While some of the material has been released by Biden, there are still approximately 4,300 redacted records.

During Trump’s interview with “The Messenger,” when asked if the public should be concerned about the secrecy of JFK’s records, Trump replied, “Well, I don’t want to comment on that… But I will tell you that I released a lot… I will release the remainder very early in my term”.

Over the past six decades, theories have persisted that challenge the official government account of the lone shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald.

While the Warren Commission report endorsed the single port theory, the 1979 House Committee report suggested the possibility of multiple snipers.

Louisiana District Attorney Jim Garrison investigated the 1963 shooting and wrote books on the subject.

Garrison’s work was the inspiration for the Oliver Stone movie “JFK”.

The CIA then included a study on its website alleging that allegations made by Garrison in his books may stem from a Soviet-backed “disinformation scheme”.