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Martin Luther King Jr's family breaks silence on Trump's order to declassify assassination files
While signing the executive order in the Oval Office, Trump declared, “Everything will be revealed.”
Martin Luther King Jr's family has addressed Donald Trump's executive order to declassify files associated with the assassination of the activist, former President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Following the order that was signed Thursday, the King family issued a statement shared on social media, calling the civil rights icon's death a “deeply personal loss.”
King family breaks silence on Trump's order to declassify MLK's assassination files
While signing the executive order in the Oval Office, Trump declared, “Everything will be revealed,” per New York Post. As the commander-in-chief delivered on the promise he made during his victory rally at Capitol One Arena, the King family said in the statement shared on their behalf by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center on X, formerly Twitter:
“Today, our family has learned that President Trump has ordered the declassification of the remaining records pertaining to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and our father, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” “For us, the assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years. We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release.”
King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray on the eve of April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at age 39.
The order, which calls the release of the assassination files “long overdue,” asserts that any potential harm to defence, intelligence, law enforcement, or diplomatic operations is outweighed by the public's right to know.
“Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth,” the order said. “It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” it added.
