John F. Kennedy assassination files to be released Wednesday

Donald Trump in January signed an executive order calling for the declassification of the JFK assassination documents, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories 60 years after his death.

President John F. Kennedy in the presidential limousine before his assassination. His wife Jacqueline is next to him and Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie sit in front. Picture: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Previously withheld documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy will be released on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), Donald Trump said, after ordering such a move in January.

Trump announced the documents drop on Monday while visiting the Kennedy Center, a performing arts venue in Washington named after the late president.

“While we’re here I thought it’d be appropriate – we are, tomorrow, announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files,” Trump told reporters.

On January 23, Trump signed an executive order calling for the declassification of the JFK assassination documents, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

“People have been waiting for decades for this, and I’ve instructed my people that are responsible … put together by Tulsi Gabbard,” Trump said, referencing his Director of National Intelligence.

The January order also covered documents related to the 1960s assassinations of JFK’s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy – father of Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr – and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

While Trump did not share any details as to what new information the files released Tuesday will contain, he teased the sheer volume of documents to be published, telling reporters: “We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading.”

“I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything,” Trump added.

The US National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to the November 22, 1963 assassination of then-president Kennedy – but thousands of documents have been held back, citing national security concerns.

It said at the time of the latest large-scale release, in December 2022, that 97 per cent of the Kennedy records – which total five million pages – had now been made public.

The Warren Commission that investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.

But that formal conclusion has done little to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, Texas, and the slow release of the government files has added fuel to various conspiracy theories.

AFP