FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 06-25
April 18, 2025
Director Gabbard and Secretary Kennedy Statement on Release of Previously Classified Senator Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Records
WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Donald J. Trump promised maximum transparency and a commitment to rebuild the trust of the American people in the Intelligence Community (IC) and federal agencies. Part of that promise was to fully release previously-classified records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), Senator Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK).
Unlike the JFK assassination files — which were identified and released in accordance with federal law — files related to the assassinations of RFK and MLK had not been digitized and sat collecting dust in facilities across the federal government for decades.
Per the President's directive, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard charged her Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) with leading the effort to digitize, declassify, and prepare the RFK and MLK files for public release. Today’s release concerns files directly related to the assassination of RFK. The DIG partnered with The National Archives and other agency officials to manually scan and upload over 10,000 pages, for online viewing by the American people, to fulfill President Trump’s maximum transparency promise.
“Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of President Trump. My team is honored that the President entrusted us to lead the declassification efforts and to shine a long-overdue light on the truth. I extend my deepest thanks for Bobby Kennedy and his families’ support,” said DNI Gabbard.
“Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I’m grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard for her dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents.”
President Trump's Executive Order 14176 stated, "although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”
Starting today, the first tranche of RFK files, that were previously sitting in storage at The National Archives, are now accessible online at archives.gov/rfk. This release consists of approximately 10,000 pages of previously classified records that will be published with minimal redactions for privacy reasons — including redactions for Social Security Numbers and Tax Identification Numbers. In the course of searching FBI and CIA warehouses for records not previously turned over to The National Archives, an additional 50,000 pages of RFK assassination files were discovered. The agencies are working to make these records available and will continue to search government facilities for additional files. Newly found records will be added to the webpage at archives.gov/rfk.
DNI Gabbard will post updates on X (@DNIGabbard) and Truth Social (@DNlTulsiGabbard) as more files are released. The files will also be available on the White House’s website.
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