The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
President Trump delays release of some JFK files
US: More than 3,000 documents never seen by the public expected to be released
US President Donald Trump is delaying the release of some files related to the John F Kennedy assassination that were due to come out yesterday.
Officials say Trump will impress upon federal agencies that JFK files should stay secret after the six-month review “only in the rarest cases”.
Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassination documents be released within 25 years, but Mr Trump has the power to block them on the grounds that making them public would harm intelligence or military operations, law enforcement or foreign relations.
The trove due to be released yesterday was expected to include more than 3,000 documents that have never been seen by the public and more than 30,000 that have been previously released but with redactions.
No blockbusters had been expected in the last trove of secret files regarding Kennedy’s assassination on November 22 1963, given a statement months ago by the Archives that it assumed the records would be “tangential” to what’s known about the killing.
But for historians it was a chance to answer questions and put some conspiracy theories to rest.
Researchers were frustrated by the uncertainty surrounding the release for much of the day yesterday.
In a tweet, University of Virginia historian Larry Sabato said: “The government has had 25 years with a known end date to prepare JFKfiles for release.”
Asked what he meant, Sabato responded: “Contradictory signals were given all day. Trump’s tweets led us to believe that disclosure was ready to go.
“Everybody outside government was ready to move quickly.”
Trump was a bit coy about the scheduled release, tweeting: “The long anticipated release of the JFK Files will take place tomorrow. So interesting!”
Experts say the publication of the last trove of evidence could help allay suspicions of a conspiracy.
“As long as the government is withholding documents like these, it’s going to fuel suspicion that there is a smoking gun out there about the Kennedy assassination,” said Patrick Maney, a presidential historian at Boston College.
Experts said intelligence agencies pushed Trump to keep some of the remaining materials secret – the CIA did not comment on that.
Whatever details are released, they are not expected to give a definitive answer to a question that still lingers for some – whether anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the assassination.
The Warren Commission in 1964 reported that Oswald had been the lone gunman and another congressional probe in 1979 found no evidence to support the theory the CIA had been involved – however, other interpretations, some more creative than others, have persisted.