New York, United States, (EFE).- The United States government announced Friday the release the first batch of documents related to the assassination of former Attorney General Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy, as the digitization of his archive continues.
According to a statement from the Office of Director National Intelligence (ODNI), about 10,000 pages were published today on the National Archives website.
However, approximately 50,000 additional documents, recently discovered in CIA and FBI storage facilities, still need to be digitized and made public.
Shortly after taking office, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the declassification of records related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy (JFK), which have already been published, as well as those concerning Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK).
Robert F. Kennedy, who served as both Attorney General and US Senator, was the younger brother of President JFK and the father of Trump administration Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK was fatally shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on Jun. 5, 1968, shortly after winning California’s Democratic presidential primary.
Unlike the JFK files, records related to RFK and MLK had not previously been digitized and have been “collecting dust in government facilities for decades,” according to the ODNI statement.
The newly released documents were manually scanned and included minimal redactions, primarily for privacy reasons, such as Social Security numbers, the statement explained.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard emphasized that, for the first time, Americans have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation into RFK’s assassination.
She said this transparency would help uncover the “truth” and thanked Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his family for their support of the declassification effort.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has publicly questioned the sole culpability of Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, the Palestinian man convicted of killing his father, praised the Trump administration’s commitment to transparency. RFK Jr. called the release of the documents a “necessary step to restore trust in the US government.”
In 2021, RFK Jr. supported efforts to release Sirhan from prison, breaking with many members of his own family who opposed the idea. EFE
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