President-elect Donald Trump, who has faced two assassination attempts, has been vocal about releasing government files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy's assassination has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories for decades, with some believing he was killed as part of a larger plot potentially involving organized crime or government agencies, such as the CIA, and that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone.
In December 2022, a CIA spokesperson told Newsweek that 95 percent of the agencies' files related to the Kennedy assassination had "been released in their entirety."
What has Donald Trump said about John F. Kennedy's Assassination?
Trump has repeatedly promised to declassify government documents relating to Kennedy's assassination.
During his first term, Trump released thousands of documents while also blocking hundreds of records, writing in a 2017 memo, "I have no choice," citing "potentially irreversible harm" to national security if he were to publish them all. The files were legally required to be released in 2017 unless posing a national security risk. President Joe Biden also released some thousand files.
Trump has pledged to release the remaining files during his second term, which will begin in January.
In a June episode of the All-In podcast, Trump suggested the CIA was "probably behind" efforts to block the release of certain files related to Kennedy's assassination. He added that if elected again, he would ensure their release, saying, "I'm just going to do it," and that "it's going to be done early on."
Two months later, at an August rally, Trump said: "I am announcing tonight that upon my election, I will establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts, and they will be tasked with releasing all the remaining documents relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy."
He said of Kennedy's nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "He lost his father and uncle in service to our country, and Bobby himself was subject to repeated threats to his safety during the course of his campaign." He added that the commission is "a tribute in honor of Bobby."
Since winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump has nominated Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy Jr., who posted on social media in remembrance of his uncle today, has repeatedly said that the CIA was directly involved in his uncle's assassination.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press team for comment via email on Friday.
When was JFK assassinated?
Sixty-one years ago, Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963, as his motorcade made its way through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. Bullets struck the president's neck and head while he sat in the backseat of a convertible with his wife, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The president was 46 years old.
Who was Lee Harvey Oswald?
Oswald was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was 24 years old when he was assassinated. He had started working at the Texas School Book Depository the month before the assassination and had previously served in the U.S. Marines.
Two days after the assassination of Kennedy, during a jail transfer in the Dallas County Jail, Oswald was fatally shot by Jack Ruby.
The following year, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination, which concluded that Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone. The report also found he shot and killed Officer J.D. Tippit that day.
The House Assassinations Committee concluded its two-year investigation in 1978, finding that Kennedy "was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy" and that "scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that two gunmen fired."
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