US President Donald Trump announced that he would release 80,000 pages of unredacted files concerning the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy (JFK) on Tuesday.
“We’re going to be releasing the JFK files, and that will be tomorrow,” Trump stated to reporters at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., during a board meeting, according to Xinhua news agency.
"You've got a lot of reading. I don't think we're going to redact anything. I said, just don't. But we're going to be releasing the JFK files," Trump went on.
"People have been waiting for decades for this," he emphasized.
When asked whether there would be a summary of the 80,000 pages, Trump simply replied, "No."
JFK, the 35th President of the United States, was murdered on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, in a motorcade. Lee Harvey Oswald was caught for the killing, but a variety of theories about the murder of Oswald just two days afterward continue to survive.
Congress enacted a law in 1992 that mandated release of all documents pertaining to assassinations to the public within 25 years, the final deadline being October 26, 2017.
In his first term as president starting January 2017, Trump sanctioned executive department and agency redactions but requested constant re-assessment of any remaining redactions.
His successor, President Joe Biden, issued further certifications in 2021, 2022, and 2023, providing agencies with more time to review and withhold information.
Biden's press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, stated on June 30, 2023, that 99% of the records related to JFK's assassination were already public via the National Archives and Records Administration.
Trump on January 23 signed an executive order to declassify all remaining files concerning JFK's murders, his brother Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK).
Read also| Danish FM Rejects U.S. Annexation Speculation on Greenland
