PRESIDENT Trump has ordered the release of the last secret files about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
All the undisclosed records regarding the impactful 1963 killing – carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald – will be revealed and accessible to the public.
Simultaneously, Trump has directed the disclosure of all files concerning the murders of Senator Robert F. Kennedy – the brother of JFK – and Martin Luther King.
Conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination have swirled for 60 years as the public guessed at what might be contained in the top secret files.
JFK was shot in the head and neck by a 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald whilst travelling in an open-top car parade in Dallas, Texas.
The prospect of new information will excite the amateur sleuths who continue to wonder whether there is more to the story than a lone gunman.
Through an executive order, Trump has tasked his Director of National Intelligence to develop a strategy for the complete publication of documents related to the JFK assassination within a span of 15 days.
The order reads: “More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Federal Government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events,” as reported by the Mail Online.
It continues: “Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth.
“It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.”
Trump’s intelligence chiefs will have 45 days to put together a plan to release the RFK and Martin Luther King archives.
Millions of pages of JFK documents have already been released leaving only a few thousand kept in the archives.
The most recent releases included CIA cable and memos recording visits by Oswald to the Cuban and Soviet embassies in Mexico City weeks before the assassination.
But experts doubt there are any major revelations lurking in the archives that would change the accepted version of events.
Trump made the promise during his election campaign to declassify the remaining government records – and has now made good on his pledge.
He made a similar promises in his first term, but was persuaded the CIA and FBI that some documents should remain private to avoid the possibility of revealing national security secrets.
Trump teased his plan during his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday evening.
He said: “I’m going to release them immediately.
“We’re going to see the information. We are looking at it right now.”
Trump said he was persuaded by Mike Pompeo, his former CIA director, not to release them during his first term.
He said: “I was actually asked by Mike Pompeo, secretary of State, not to, and I felt he knew something that maybe, you know, when he asked you not to, you sort of say ‘why?’ and he felt that it was not a good time to release them.”
The new executive order, signed by Trump in the Oval Office, says: “I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.”
