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Trump plans to release JFK assassination documents despite concerns from
federal agencies
The Kennedy motorcade drives through Dallas moments before the president
was fatally shot Nov. 22, 1963. (Jim Altgens/AP)
By Ian Shapira October 21 at 9:50 AM
President Trump announced Saturday morning that he planned to release
the tens of thousands of never-before-seen documents left in the files
related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination held by the
National Archives and Records Administration.
“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as
President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened,”
Trump tweeted early Saturday.
Kennedy assassination experts have been speculating for weeks about
whether Trump would disclose the documents. The 1992 Kennedy
Assassination Records Collection Act required that the millions of pages
— many of them contained in CIA and FBI documents — be published in 25
years, by Oct. 26. Over the years, the National Archives has released
most of the documents, either in full or partially redacted.
[Pressure grows on Trump to release the JFK files]
But one final batch remains, and only the president has the authority to
extend the papers’ secrecy past the October deadline. In his tweet,
Trump seemed to strongly imply he was going to release all the remaining
documents. But he also hedged, suggesting that if, between now and Oct.
26, other government agencies made a strong case not to release the
documents, he wouldn’t. Also, Trump was unclear about whether he would
publish all of the documents in full or with some of them redacted.
In the days leading up to Trump’s tweet, a National Security Council
official told The Washington Post that government agencies were urging
the president not to release some of the documents. But Trump’s longtime
confidant Roger Stone told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars
this week that he personally lobbied Trump to publish all of the documents.
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[Roger Stone is the man the media can’t ignore]
Stone also told Jones that CIA Director Mike Pompeo “has been lobbying
the president furiously not to release these documents.”
Though Kennedy assassination experts say they don’t think the last batch
of papers contains any major bombshells, the president’s decision to
release the documents could heighten the clarity around the
assassination, which has fueled so many conspiracy theorists, including
Trump himself.
In May 2016, while on the presidential campaign trail, Trump gave an
interview to Fox News strongly accusing the father of his GOP primaries
opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, of consorting with Kennedy assassin
Lee Harvey Oswald right before the shooting.
The assassination experts do suspect the papers will shed light on the
activities of Oswald while he was traveling in Mexico City in late
September 1963 and courting Cuban and Soviet spies.
[JFK’s last birthday: Gifts, champagne and wandering hands on the
presidential yacht]
Play Video 12:06
What you may not have known about JFK's last days
On the 50th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, author James
Swanson shares the stories he learned while writing his book, "The End
of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy". (The Washington Post)
Phil Shenon, who wrote a book about the Warren Commission, the
congressional body that investigated Kennedy’s killing, said he was
pleased with Trump’s decision. But he wonders to what degree the papers
will ultimately be released.
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“It’s great news that the president is focused on this and that he’s
trying to demonstrate transparency. But the question remains whether he
will open the library in full — every word in every document, as the law
requires,” Shenon said. “And my understanding is that he won’t without
infuriating people at the CIA and elsewhere who are determined to keep
at least some of the information secret, especially in documents created
in the 1990s.”
Jefferson Morley, a former Post reporter who has studied the Kennedy
assassination records for years, said the last tranche of material is
also intriguing because it contains files on senior CIA officials from
the 1960s — officers well aware of Oswald’s activities in the days
before the assassination.
On Saturday morning, Stone, the Trump confidant, was rejoicing on Twitter.
“Yes! Victory!” he tweeted.