President Trump said 80,000 more documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy would be released Tuesday.
Trump told reporters the files would not be redacted. Leaders at the National Archives did not immediately confirm the president’s plans, which were announced off-hand Monday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
“While we’re here, I thought it would be appropriate — we are, tomorrow, announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files,” Trump said.
The president has previously promised to release all government documents on the Kennedy assassination, but he backed down during his first term after FBI and CIA leaders asked him to keep some files secret.
Trump has also ordered the release of government documents on the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He did not mention those on Monday’s trip to the Kennedy Center.
Historians did not expect Tuesday’s document dump to provide any new shocking revelations about the Kennedy assassination.
The official government investigation by the Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he fatally shot Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas. Two days later, local club owner Jack Ruby killed Oswald during a prisoner transfer. Ruby died less than four years later.
However, perhaps no event has spawned more conspiracy theories than JFK’s assassination. Organized crime groups, U.S. government agencies such as the CIA, and foreign intelligence agencies such as the KGB have all been blamed.