US President Donald Trump signed the executive order ordering the declassification of records regarding the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, Senator Robert F Kennedy, and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr, and said it is time for the American people to know the "truth".
The White House released the detailed document, saying: "Providing Americans with the truth after six decades of secrecy."
"The Executive Order establishes the policy that, more than 50 years after these assassinations, the victims' families and the American people deserve the truth," the statement added.
The executive order requires top administration officials to present a plan to declassify the documents within 15 days.
President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. His brother Robert F Kennedy was assassinated while running for President in California 1968, just two months after Martin Luther King Jr, America's most famous civil rights leader, was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Specifically, the order instructs the Director of National Intelligence and other appropriate officials to submit a plan within 15 days for the full and complete release of all John F Kennedy assassination records and Immediately review the records relating to the Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr assassinations and present a plan for their full and complete release within 45 days.
Importantly, during the first term in his rule, Trump compelled agencies to pursue the declassifying of most information regarding John F Kennedy assassination.
According to the White House, the President John F Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 provided that all the records relating to the assassination would be released 25 years from its date of enactment, absent a presidential certification that: Continued postponement is necessary due to identifiable harm to the military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and such identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
"In October 2017 and April 2018 certifications, President Trump instructed agencies to reprocess redactions and declassify any information that no longer met the standards for withholding. President Biden delayed declassification in 2021, 2022, and 2023," the statement added.
Trump said that the continued withholding of the John F Kennedy records is "not in the public interest and is long overdue", and further adding that releasing the Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination records is in the 'public interest'.
Interestingly, it was President Trump's campaign promise to release assassination records to give Americans the truth.
President Trump pledged on multiple occasions to release the JFK files, specifically stating in June 2024 that he would do so "early on".
"When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents. It's been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!" Trump said.
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