Donald Trump to Declassify JFK & MLK Assassination Files: Why It Matters & What’s Next

Donald Trump to Declassify JFK & MLK Assassination Files: U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the declassification and release of thousands of government documents concerning Kennedy's death, as well as the assassination of his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The order is among a flurry of executive actions Trump took at the beginning of his second term. After the signing, Trump told reporters, "Everything will be revealed."

The documents have been subject to public intrigue and conspiracy theories for decades.

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Notably, Trump's order comes after he promised during his re-election campaign that, if re-elected, he would release the last batches of still-classified documents surrounding President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas that have captivated the public imagination for decades.

Significance of executive order releasing information on Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr

The importance of these so-called papers is hailed for their historical significance, forming the spearhead of the beginning of the promised transparency and public access to the records by the Trump administration.

This is a long-sought release that has been invoked with public outcry for their publication after several conspiracy theories and speculation developed regarding the deaths of these former U.S. leadership figures.

The documents reveal the testimony by the intelligence services of the time and offer insight into CIA cables and memos that discuss the visits of Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City a few short weeks before the assassination.

However, this is not the first time that Trump made an undertaking of the release of JFK's assassination documents, only to ultimately defer to the requests of intelligence agencies, most notably the CIA and FBI, on the grounds of national security.

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How will documents be released?

The order requires the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to draw a plan to release the remaining John F. Kennedy records in 15 days and to handle the other two cases in 45 days.

It was unclear if or when they would be released.

What's next for Donald Trump?

The priority of declassification by the president could be construed as a token of his administration's commitment to establishing a future narrative about government accountability and the stopping of deep states in releasing these files.

There remain some documents in the JFK collection that researchers believe will not be released by the president.

This involves about 500 documents, including tax returns, that were not expected to be disclosed in 2017. Researchers have noted that over the decades, many files have been actively destroyed.

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