The Trump administration on Monday released hundreds of thousands of documents related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., fulfilling a pledge from President Trump despite some reluctance from the civil rights icon’s children.
The release makes more than 230,000 pages of files digitally available. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the documents include details about the FBI’s investigation into King’s killing in 1968, internal memos about the case and details about the pursuit of James Earl Ray, who was convicted of killing the civil rights leader.
Some of the records had been publicized previously through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. But officials touted that the document dump was the first time they had been made available online with minimal redactions.
“Today’s record release marks a historic step in the Trump Administration’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also serving as the interim head of the National Archives (NARA), said in a statement.
“Preserving, protecting, and releasing the records of the U.S. government is at the core of NARA’s mission,” Rubio added. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and a coordinated interagency process, NARA was able to review and release the records at an unprecedented speed.”
Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, the two living children of Martin Luther King Jr., issued a lengthy statement on Monday in which they urged the public to view the newly released records “within their full historical context,” pointing to what they called an “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated” by the FBI.
“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods,” the King children said in a statement. “We strongly condemn any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy and the significant achievements of the movement. Those who promote the fruit of the FBI’s surveillance will unknowingly align themselves with an ongoing campaign to degrade our father and the Civil Rights Movement.”
Within days of taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the release of federal government documents related to the assassinations of King, former President John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
King was shot and killed in Memphis in April 1968, and his assassination has remained the subject of conspiracy theories.
“While we continue to mourn his death, the declassification and release of these documents are a historic step towards the truth that the American people deserve,” King’s niece, Alveda King, said in a statement shared by the Trump administration.
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