Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump has ignited family fury and conspiracist excitement after ordering the release of the final files on three historical assassinations. In a move that has caused political divide, the last remaining classified papers detailing the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. are now set for publication. Conspiracy theorists have celebrated the move, convinced the men were killed in FBI and CIA plots.
However, the family of JFK hit out with revulsion, calling the move "a political prop" while saying of Trump, "There's nothing heroic about it." Setting an ambitious deadline of 13 days, the new president has vowed to start shedding light on the deaths starting with JFK.
"A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades," he said. “And everything will be revealed.". Trump signed an executive order mandating the disclosure after decades of speculation and conspiracy theories about each assassination. The order explicitly states that "the release of these records is long overdue". It tasks the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with rapidly preparing for it.
JFK was assassinated in November 1963 in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open motorcade. Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marine Corps veteran who had defected to the Soviet Union and later returned to the States, was identified as the prime suspect. However, Oswald was murdered two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, spurring wild theories about whether he was part of - or a patsy in - a shadowy conspiracy. Ruby's known ties to organised crime have only added to the case's intrigue.
