On Tuesday, 80,000 pages of previously unseen documents about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination were released. This happened after President Donald Trump announced the decision the day before.
Trump said people had been waiting for decades for these files. He instructed officials, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, to release them.
“You have a lot of reading to do,” Trump said. “I don’t think we’re going to remove anything. I said, ‘Don’t redact, you can’t redact.'”
By Tuesday night, more than 1,123 unedited documents were available on the National Archive’s website.
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release-2025
Tulsi Gabbard praised Trump’s decision in a post on X, calling it a step toward “maximum transparency.” She said the documents were released without redactions and that Trump had kept his promise.
However, some records are still under court seal or protected by law. Gabbard said the National Archives is working with the Justice Department to speed up their release. She noted that grand juries had already reviewed many of these files, so much of the information was already known.
Despite Trump’s claim that nothing would be removed, a source said some future documents will still have redactions. These will include personal details, such as Social Security numbers, and information about undercover agents in Cuba.
In January, Trump signed an order to declassify files related to the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). He asked intelligence officials to submit a plan for the JFK files release by February 7. Plans for the RFK and MLK documents were due by March 9.
This release came shortly after the Justice Department published Jeffrey Epstein-related files in February. Many of those documents had already been made public during the trial of Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. The lack of new information led to criticism of Trump’s handling of the Epstein case. Some people are now questioning what the RFK and MLK files might reveal.
The FBI said in February that a new search had uncovered about 2,400 more records related to the JFK case. These files had not been previously identified.
Presidents have repeatedly promised to release the JFK files. Trump had said during his campaign that he would release everything if elected for a second term. “It’s been 60 years. The American people deserve the truth,” he said.
During his first term, Trump had also promised to release all the files but later blocked the release of some records after requests from the CIA and FBI.