The Trump administration released more than 230,000 pages of records on Monday
concerning the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., despite
concerns from King’s family.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated that the American people had
waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation
into King’s assassination. She added that the documents were being published with
minimal redactions for privacy reasons, as part of an effort to ensure full transparency
on this pivotal and tragic event in U.S. history.
The release follows President Donald Trump’s executive order declassifying files
related to the assassinations of King, President John F. Kennedy, and Robert F.
Kennedy. The National Archives had previously released records from the 1963 JFK
assassination and the 1968 RFK murder.
King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was
convicted of the murder, but King’s children have expressed doubts about his guilt.
In a statement, King’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King,
expressed support for the transparency and historical accountability, but stated
concern that the records could be used to attack their father’s legacy. They also
highlighted the FBI’s past “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing” disinformation
and surveillance campaign against King, orchestrated by then-FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover, intended to discredit the civil rights movement. They urged the public to
engage with the files with empathy, restraint, and respect for their family’s ongoing
grief