New York Daily News

Let it go Prez won’t block new JFK info

- BY JESSICA SCHLADEBEC­K and DENIS SLATTERY

CONSPIRACY theorists love a good plot twist.

President Trump said Saturday he will not block the release of thousands of classified files related to the assassinat­ion of President John F. Kennedy — a move reportedly opposed by U.S. intelligen­ce agencies.

Trump, who has the power to keep the trove of never-beforeseen documents under wraps, tweeted out his intentions.

“Subject to the receipt of further informatio­n, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened,” he wrote.

Kennedy’s 1963 death and subsequent investigat­ions have been the subject of countless conspiracy theories for decades. The National Archives has until Thursday to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy’s death after Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassinat­ion documents be released within 25 years.

The trove is 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.

Government officials told Politico Magazine on Friday they were worried about publishing classified documents, some created as recently as the 1990s, fearing they could expose relatively recent American intelligen­ce and law-enforcemen­t operations. Others were excited at the prospect of poring over the top secret files.

“Thank you. This is the correct decision. Please do not allow exceptions for any agency of government,” tweeted Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of a book about Kennedy. “JFK files have been hidden too long.”

Longtime Trump friend Roger Stone, who wrote a book alleging that President Lyndon Johnson was the driving force behind Kennedy’s assassinat­ion, has personally urged the President to make the files public. “Yes ! victory !” he tweeted Saturday.

Some believe the files may help clarify why assassin Lee Harvey Oswald visited Mexico City ahead of the killing, stopping at both the Soviet and Cuban embassies. Oswald has said he went to get visas that would allow him into the two countries, according to the Warren Commission, the investigat­ive body establishe­d by Johnson.

 ??  ?? With News Wire Services President John F. Kennedy with wife Jacqueline moments before shooting. The Associated Press
With News Wire Services President John F. Kennedy with wife Jacqueline moments before shooting. The Associated Press

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