Former President Donald Trump pledged to release all the assassination files on President John F. Kennedy should he be reelected in November.
‘This time I’m just going to do it,’ Trump promised during a taping of an episode of the All-In podcast, which was released Thursday.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee was asked by co-host Chamath Palihapitiya what was in the JFK files that Trump didn’t release publicly during his first term.
The former president said he was encouraged to keep some of the information on the Kennedy assassination secret – and then made a bold claim regarding who was responsible for any cover-up.
‘Well, this wasn’t CIA that asked me, but I think CIA was probably behind it,’ Trump said. ‘They wouldn’t preferred that I not release the rest of it.’
Former President Donald Trump pledged to release all the assassination files on President John F. Kennedy should he be reelected in November
President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Dallas just moments before he was assassinated on November 22, 1963
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s running against Trump and President Joe Biden as an independent presidential candidate, has pushed that the CIA was involved in the assassination of his uncle.
Trump was asked by the podcasters about RFK Jr.’s claims when bringing up the CIA.
As president, Trump pledged to release the Kennedy files but announced in April 2018 that the public must wait several more years because the potential harm to national security, law enforcement or foreign affairs is ‘of such gravity that it outweights the public interest in immediate disclosure.’
Some 19,000 records were released by the National Archives that same month.
‘I actually did do it. I released a lot, as you know, but when it came to the whole thing, I was hit by some people that work for me, who are great people that you would respect. They asked me not to do it,’ Trump recalled.
‘And I’m saying, “Why? Tell my why?” and they said, “Sir, I think it needs a little more time,”‘ the ex-president continued.
Former President Donald Trump participated in the taping of the All-In podcast, which was released Thursday
‘And I released a lot, but I said, if they feel so strongly, I respect the people, and would have done that again,’ he said.
He then promised, if reelected, he’d release the rest of the Kennedy files.
‘It’s going to be done early on,’ he added. ‘A lot of people want to see that and whatever it may say – I won’t say it, I have an idea – but whatever it is it will be very interesting for people to see and we’re going to have to learn from it.’
As the podcasters started to change the subject, Trump interjected: ‘There are other things we’re going to release too.’
‘We’ll talk to you about it off-camera,’ he teased.
