9 hours ago
Last Updated:July 22, 2025, 07:43 IST
The US released documents related to Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. King’s children urged respectful handling of the records, citing concerns over misuse.
People walk by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington (Photo: Reuters)
The Donald Trump administration on Monday released more than 240,000 pages of documents related to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, despite concerns from his family.
The released files also include records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which had surveilled the Nobel Peace Prize winner as part of an effort to discredit him and his civil rights movement, Reuters reported.
The files were posted on the website of the Archives.
It was also believed that more such files would be released in the coming days.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order after taking office, declassifying files on the 1960s assassinations of former President John F Kennedy, his brother Robert F Kennedy and King.
Soon after the files were made public, Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in a statement, said, “The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into Dr King’s assassination."
“We are ensuring that no stone is left unturned in our mission to deliver complete transparency on this pivotal and tragic event in our nation’s history," she said.
Gabbard said lakhs of pages of documents were being released and were being published “with minimal redactions for privacy reasons."
Martin Luther King Jr died on April 4, 1968, after he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Records say he was murdered as he increasingly extended his attention from a nonviolent campaign for equal rights for African Americans to economic issues and calls for peace.
James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998, but King’s children have expressed doubts that he was the assassin.
In a statement on Monday, King’s two surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, said they “support transparency and historical accountability" but were concerned the records could be used for “attacks on our father’s legacy."
The civil rights leader was the target during his lifetime of an “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign" orchestrated by then-FBI director J Edgar Hoover, they said in a joint statement.
The FBI campaign was intended to “discredit, dismantle and destroy Dr King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement," they said.
“These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth."
“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," they added.
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Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.
Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.
News world Trump Administration Releases Over 2,40,000 Pages Of Martin Luther King Jr Assassination Files
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