Trump will not block the release of JFK's documents
JFK's Classified documents were due to be released under law President Trump has stated he will not block the release at this time.
President Trump announced: “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK files to be opened.”
Speculation mounted among his critics that Mr Trump might have readily agreed to release the files in order to distract from the ongoing investigation into his alleged ties with Russia – although their publication was required by law following the 1992 Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act.
This law – prompted partly by the Oliver Stone movie JFK, required the files, which run to millions of pages, many of them contained in CIA and FBI documents, to be published by 26 October, exactly 25 years after it was passed.
Over the years, the national archives has released the bulk of the documents, although some of them remain partially redacted. However, one final batch remains unreleased, and only the President has the authority to extend the secrecy of the documents past the deadline if he believes national security could be compromised by their opening.
Mr Trump has not yet said whether the remaining files will be released with partial redactions or in their entirety.
Pressure had grown on the President from historians and journalists to authorise the release of the files – with reported counter-pressure from the CIA Director Mike Pompeo to extend the secrecy of the documents for another 25 years.
Political consultant Roger Stone, a confidante of Mr Trump’s, told Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones he had spoken to the President to urge him to release them.
More on the conspiracy
More on the subject from the Independent newspaper
