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The Trump administration has released over 230,000 pages of previously classified documents relating to the 1968 assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., a move hailed as a step towards transparency but one that has stirred unease among the late civil rights leader’s family.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the release on Monday, emphasising that the American public had waited nearly six decades for the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into King’s death. “We are committed to leaving no stone unturned in our mission to provide full transparency on this defining and tragic moment in our nation’s history,” she said. The files were made available with minimal redactions for privacy protection.
This disclosure follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump aimed at declassifying government records tied to the politically charged assassinations of the 1960s, including those of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr King. Files related to the JFK and RFK killings were released earlier this year.
Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot in April 1968 while visiting Memphis, Tennessee. Although James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and later died in prison in 1998, doubts have persisted for years—particularly from King’s family—about whether Ray acted alone or was even the true killer.
In a joint statement, King’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, voiced mixed feelings about the release. While they welcomed the principle of transparency and historical accountability, they warned that the documents could be misused to undermine their father’s legacy.
They also referenced the disturbing extent of surveillance and disinformation campaigns King endured during his lifetime. Led by former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the agency targeted King in efforts to tarnish his reputation and weaken the broader civil rights movement. “These actions went beyond invasions of privacy; they were deliberate attacks on truth,” the family said. They urged the public to approach the documents with “empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s ongoing grief.”
The newly published files may reignite longstanding speculation around high-profile political assassinations in the US. Despite the Warren Commission’s official conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy, many continue to suspect wider conspiracies.
Robert Kennedy, who was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time of his murder in June 1968, was killed by Sirhan Sirhan. The Palestinian-born Jordanian remains imprisoned in California after being convicted of the killing.
