In a historic move underscoring the Trump administration’s emphasis on government transparency, more than 230,000 pages of long-sealed federal documents related to the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were reportedly made public on Monday, offering the American people long-awaited access to one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi praised the release, noting that “the American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination of one of our nation’s great leaders.”
The document release, coordinated by the FBI and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, fulfills an executive order signed by President Trump in January.
That same order also led to the March release of thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, reaffirming the administration’s stated commitment to open the books on two of the most painful events in modern U.S. history.
Unlike the Kennedy assassination files, the King documents had never been digitized and, according to Gabbard’s office, had “sat collecting dust in facilities across the federal government for decades.”
Their release is being hailed by transparency advocates and historians alike as a long-overdue step toward accountability.
At the center of the files is new information on James Earl Ray, the man convicted of assassinating Dr. King in Memphis. Among the revelations are claims from a former cellmate of Ray’s, who allegedly told authorities that Ray had discussed a possible plot to kill King prior to the assassination.
Ray, who initially confessed to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, later recanted and spent the rest of his life attempting to secure a new trial. He died in 1998.
The release also raises broader questions about the conduct of federal agencies during the civil rights era. In a joint statement, King’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice A. King, welcomed the push for transparency but urged restraint and sensitivity.
“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods,” they said, adding that the FBI once actively tried to “discredit, dismantle and destroy” their father’s reputation and undermine the broader civil rights movement.
They also expressed hope that the documents may reveal new details that support their long-held belief that James Earl Ray may not have acted alone—or perhaps not at all—in their father’s murder.
This latest release marks another example of the Trump administration’s efforts to shine light on buried historical truths, even when they reveal institutional misconduct.
While critics have long accused Washington of suppressing politically sensitive information under the pretext of national security, this release shows a shift toward accountability and public access to critical historical records.
With the nation still grappling with questions of justice, race, and government integrity, the release of these files may not provide all the answers—but it does bring Americans one step closer to confronting the full truth.
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