The Trump administration announced Friday that it has begun to release thousands of pages of classified documents on Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination — a move that is almost certain to fuel renewed speculation about a pivotal moment in Los Angeles and U.S. history.
President Trump’s release of the files is backed by the senator’s son, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long believed there may have been a second gunman, and insisted his father’s convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, might not have fired the fatal shots.
“Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said in a statement. “I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I’m grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard for her dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents.”
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after celebrating his victory in the California presidential primary.
Soon after the killing, which was captured by television cameras and broadcast around the world, Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was arrested.
Sirhan was captured at the scene with a .22-caliber handgun in his hand. He had also written a manifesto calling for Kennedy’s death.
“Kennedy must be assassinated June 5, 1968,” he wrote.
The date marked the first anniversary of the Six-Day War between Israel and its neighbors Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israel won decisively, capturing a swath of territory including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem.
But Sirhan’s gun held only eight bullets and new evidence has emerged over the years that suggests as many as 13 shots may have been fired that night.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement that about 10,000 pages of previously classified records on the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “sat collecting dust in facilities across the federal government for decades.” Now they have been scanned and uploaded by the National Archives, she said, they will be available to view online, with limited redactions for privacy reasons, at archives.gov/rfk.
“Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of President Trump,” Gabbard said in a statement. “My team is honored that the President entrusted us to lead the declassification efforts and to shine a long-overdue light on the truth. I extend my deepest thanks for Bobby Kennedy and his families’ support.”
Trump pledged during the 2024 election campaign he would fully release previously-classified records on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy , and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order ordering the declassification of the records and last month his administration released a cache of unredacted classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy.
The 10,000 pages of files released today on Robert K. Kennedy is just the first batch of files related to his assassination.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a news release Friday that agents discovered an additional trove of 50,000 pages during searches of CIA and FBI warehouses for documents that had not been turned over to the National Archives. According to the office, agencies are now working to make those documents available to the public and will continue searching government facilities for more records.
This story will be updated.
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