TRUMP TO DECLASSIFY JFK FILES

WASHINGTON: Classified files about the 1963 assassination of former US president John F Kennedy, which spawned legions of conspiracy theories, are expected to be released in full next week. Unless President Donald Trump changes his mind.

“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened ,” Trump announced in a tweet on Saturday.

The documents pertain to the investigation—fromthe CIA ,the FBI and justice department — include 3,100 papers that were never made public and 30,000 that were never seen fully,un- redacted. Most of them were written in the 1960s and 1970s.

The national archives is scheduled to release the papers on October 26 or thereabouts, in accordance with the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, 1992. The act mandated the release of the papers after 25 years unless the president decided otherwise.

There had been speculation that Trump might give into pressure, especially from the CIA, and block the release of the papers.

Conspiracy theorists doubt the official conclusion that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone. They believe Kennedy was a victim of a conspiracy and an elaborate cover-up, which included the killing of Oswald days after by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner with mafia links.

Trump subscribes to a theory that links the father of Senator Ted Cruz to Oswald. The Cruz family has strenuously denied any links to the killers.

Roger Stone, a long-time Trump adviser and co-author of the book The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LB J, which points fingers at president Lyndon BJohnson—vice-president at the time of the assassination — has alleged Oswald was trained by the CIA, whichiswhy the spy agency wants to prevent the release of the documents.