February 6, 2025 Congressmen Cohen, Schweikert and Burchett Lead Letter Seeking Release of JFK Assassination Records
Welcomes decision to declassify records associated with the assassinations of RFK and MLK
WASHINGTON -- Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-9), David Schweikert (AZ-1), and Tim Burchett (TN-2) today wrote again to President Trump welcoming his Executive Order decision to release the remaining records associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) in 1963 and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., both of which occurred in 1968.
The Members of Congress wrote:
“We write to commend your commitment to declassify all remaining government records related to the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) on November 22, 1963, as well as records relating to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK), both of whom were killed in 1968. We appreciate your January 23, 2025, Executive Order, ‘Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.,’ and your pledge to bring transparency to these pivotal moments in our nation's history.
“As your order notes, the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection of 1992, also known as the ‘JFK Act,’ required public release of the archive. It gave federal agencies a twenty-five-year timeline to process and release the documents, if not subject to an exemption, by October 26, 2017. Despite several extensions, many documents remain secret. Thirty years after the passage of the JFK Act and seven years after the statutory deadline, it is deeply frustrating that the public cannot access the complete set. We appreciate your recent move to rectify that situation.
“President Kennedy's assassination has always been the subject of conspiracy theories. The governmental secrecy and recent delay in the publication of the documents only perpetuates this type of thinking.”
The letter then provides nine specific recommendations for assuring transparency in the release of the documents.
See the entire letter here.
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