By Hannah Parry
Associate News Editor
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The Trump administration has released a tranche of unredacted documents about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Titled the "Records of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (the Warren Commission), 1954–1965," the documents include photos of evidence and correspondence regarding the assassination.
Donald Trump said on Monday he was planning to release about 80,000 pages of unredacted documents in connection with the fatal shooting of Kennedy as his motorcade passed in front of the Texas School Book Depository building in downtown Dallas, where assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was stationed on the sixth floor, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby during a jail transfer two days later.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump said: "While we're here, I thought it would be appropriate—we are, tomorrow, announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files."
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Mar 18, 2025 at 08:02 PM EDT
Many of the documents are faded, blurry or challenging to read
Many of the documents released in the tranche of JFK assassination files are faded after more than 60 years in storage.
Others appear to have been digitized poorly, leaving them blurry, or are written in challenging handwriting.
They include some of the documents found in the "Letters Received by the Chief Justice, November 30, 1963–September 24, 1964."
Mar 18, 2025 at 07:57 PM EDT
Notebook ‘relating to witnesses and other testimony’ among the documents
A notebook with witness testimony is among the JFK assassination files.
The notebook, which is described as "relating to witnesses and other testimony" includes testimony from Dr. Malcolm Oliver Perry, an American surgeon and one of the doctors who attended to Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital after the shooting
Two days later, he attended to Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald after he was shot.
Mar 18, 2025 at 07:45 PM EDT
Mary Moorman Polaroid included in documents
The famous Mary Moorman Polaroid, taken a fraction of a second after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot, is among the documents released today.
Moorman had been watching the motorcade with a friend from the grassy knoll, when she snapped the picture, unknowingly, in the same moment as JFK was shot.
Her photograph, which was confiscated by the Secret Service, later became a focus for conspiracy theorists who believe it showed the "Badge Man", whom they claim is one of Kennedy's assassins.
Mar 18, 2025 at 07:34 PM EDT
Not yet clear if any new information on death is covered in files
Most of the files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, appear to be focused on the initial investigation by the Warren Commission in 1964.
It is not yet clear whether any new information about Kennedy's death, or about the investigation, is covered by the files.
Mar 18, 2025 at 07:31 PM EDT
Not all records posted online
National Archives and Records Administration confirmed that it had posted a slew of documents from the President John F. Kennedy assassination records on Tuesday, in accordance with President Trump's executive order.
In a statement, National Archives said that the records would be available online or in person, at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, but suggested that some of the hard copy files were not yet online.
"As the records continue to be digitized, they will be posted to this page," the National Archives said.
They added that some information might still be withheld under court seal or for grand jury secrecy, or because tax return information is subject to Internal Revenue Code prohibitions.'
The documents were released just before 7 p.m. ET.
Mar 18, 2025 at 07:26 PM EDT
Trump fulfils campaign promise with release of files
On the campaign trail, Trump had promised to declassify the remaining government documents about Kennedy's assassination. He made a similar pledge to release the remaining files during his first term in office, but ultimately withheld some documents after appeals from the FBI and CIA about potential national security risks.
While the FBI and the Warren Commission, created to investigate the 1963 assassination, both concluded it was carried out by Oswald who acted alone, conspiracies about it have persisted in the decades since. A 2023 Gallup poll found that 65 percent of Americans believe Oswald did not act alone.
Trump signed an executive order shortly after returning to office in January that ordered the release of the thousands of still-classified government documents about the assassinations of Kennedy, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The order directed the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to develop a plan within 15 days for the "full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy" and within 45 days for the records relating to the other two cases.
Today, a tranche of unredacted documents relating to the assassination were released.
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