Washington – The FBI discovered approximately 2,400 new records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy during a new records search following President Donald Trump’s executive order.
The FBI said in a statement Monday that it conducted a new search of records in response to Trump’s executive order on January 23, which directed the release of additional documents related to the assassinations of JFK, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
“The search resulted in approximately 2,400 newly inventoried and digitized records that were previously unrecognized as related to the JFK assassination case file,” according to a statement from the bureau.
Axios was first to report on the discovery. The statement provides no additional information about what the records say.
Since 2020, the FBI has begun collecting closed case paper files from FBI field offices across the country for storage in its “Central Records Complex” in Virginia. The FBI stated that the “more comprehensive” inventory and “technological advances in automating” its record-keeping processes have enabled it to search for and locate records more quickly.
The FBI stated that it is working to turn over the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in the “ongoing declassification process.”
During Trump’s first term, the US government released more than 2,800 records related to JFK’s assassination in accordance with a 1992 law requiring the documents’ disclosure. However, approximately 300 files were classified because of concerns about US national security, law enforcement, and foreign relations. Another document release occurred in 2018.
In 2023, the Biden administration announced that the National Archives had completed its review of the classified JFK assassination documents, with 99% of the records now publicly available.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to release all documents related to the JFK assassination, which has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in an open convertible limousine through downtown Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged with Kennedy’s assassination, but he died before he could face trial.
