President Trump has signed an executive order calling for the release of documents surrounding the 1960s assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 required the documents on President Kennedy to be released to the public in full by 2017, unless the downsides of broadcasting them outweigh public interest, or there is some threat to national security, law enforcement or foreign affairs.
Trump first ordered the documents to be released in 2017, but allowed for an extension, as some agencies' concerns aligned with those outlined in the act.
Former President Joe Biden additionally postponed the release during his tenure.
On Thursday, Trump said, "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."
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 while riding in a motorcade with his wife, Jacqueline, in Dallas. King, a renowned reverend and civil rights activist, was killed in April 1968 while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.
Robert Kennedy, the president's brother and attorney general during his term, was killed in June 1968, after giving a victory speech for winning the Democratic primary in California for that year's presidential race.
"Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth," Trump said. "It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay."
The president added that while Congress has not mandated files to be published in the deaths of Robert Kennedy and King, he believes they are also of public interest.
Trump has given the director of National Intelligence and attorney general 15 days to come up with a plan to put out the records surrounding President Kennedy's assassination, and 45 days for Robert Kennedy's and King's assassinations.
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