The administration of former US President Donald Trump has released a collection of records pertaining to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., including FBI surveillance files compiled on the civil rights leader.
These FBI documents, comprising 230,000 pages, had been withheld from public access since 1977 due to a court order.
Several members of King’s family had previously expressed opposition to the release. In a statement, his two surviving children condemned “any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy.”
King, a prominent Baptist minister, was fatally shot in Memphis on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. James Earl Ray, a convicted felon, pleaded guilty to the crime, but later recanted his confession.
King Jr.’s two living children, Martin III and Bernice, who were informed in advance of the release, issued a statement on Monday, urging: “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.”
“The release of these files must be viewed within their full historical context.”
“During our father’s lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”
The statement further asserted that the government’s surveillance denied King the “dignity and freedoms of private citizens.”
During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to release files related to the assassinations of King and former President John F. Kennedy.
In January, he signed an executive order mandating the declassification of documents pertaining to both assassinations, as well as records concerning the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) stated in a press release on Monday: “The MLK files in today’s release had never been digitized and sat collecting dust in facilities across the federal government for decades, until today.”
The documents include “internal FBI memos” and “never-before-seen CIA records” related to the investigation into King’s assassination, according to the DNI.
The release was coordinated with the FBI, Department of Justice, National Archives, and CIA.
“The American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination of one of our nation’s great leaders,” stated US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Critics of Trump have pointed out that the release coincides with accusations of a lack of transparency surrounding files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose 2019 death in jail was ruled a suicide.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton characterized the release of the King files as “a desperate attempt to distract” from “the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility.”
However, not all members of King’s family expressed disapproval of the release.
Referring to the civil rights leader as “my uncle,” Alveda King stated: “I am grateful to President Trump and DNI Gabbard for delivering on their pledge of transparency.”
“While we continue to mourn his death, the declassification and release of these documents are a historic step towards the truth that the American people deserve.”
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