When were the declassified JFK files supposed to be released? What we know as Trump orders release of classified documents

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, January 23, 2025, regarding declassifying remaining JFK files.

The executive order references the “President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.” According to the act, all JFK files were supposed to be declassified entirely by October 26, 2017. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) commenced the disclosure of files on July 24, 2017.

The initial release included 17 audio files of interviews of a former KGB officer, Yuri Nosenko. Additionally, a set of 3,810 documents was released by NARA, including 441 documents in full from CIA and FBI records. In the coming months, NARA made more JFK files public while still withholding some.

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NARA declassified JFK files under Trump and Biden administrations in multiple batches

On October 21, 2017, Donald Trump, serving his first term, assured the release of more files while also leaving ambiguity around the classification of some. Trump, then-45th President, wrote on X:

“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”

Around the deadline, Trump postponed the release of some files related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. These files were slated to remain classified while a 180-day review was underway. The President decided while considering national security concerns.

After the said decision, NARA continued to disclose documents publicly for the next few months. Besides the initial sets of releases, the agency declassified more files on JFK in April 2018. It also happened during Joe Biden’s administration, when certain disclosures were again postponed due to the concurrent COVID-19 pandemic.

The last instance when documents or other files related to JFK’s assassination were declassified was on December 15. In 2023, NARA reportedly finished reviewing all documents. Reports further estimated that 99% of the files had already been made public. However, the remaining files have remained covert to date.

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Trump’s administration will oversee the disclosure of JFK files and documents related to RFK and MLK Jr. assassinations

The 1960s were marked by many prominent assassinations that influenced the forthcoming US History. President John F. Kennedy, his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. were among the figures who lost their lives in that decade, which later became the roots of many conspiracy theories.

Along with the release of JFK files, Trump has also announced the disclosure of documents around RFK and MLK Jr. assassinations. In his order, the 47th President said,

“I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.”

He further added,

“And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”

Thus, the public will soon have access to all documents related to all three assassinations, especially the much-talked-about John F. Kennedy files. For the unversed, Kennedy, who was the 35th President, was assassinated on November 22, 1963, while traveling in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald, the person who assassinated JFK, was a Marine veteran and murdered by Jack Ruby two days later.