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A cache of secret files related to the assassination of Robert F Kennedy was released on Friday as part of President Donald Trump’s order to open up government records about the killings of prominent Americans.
About 10,000 pages of files were uploaded to the National Archives website for public viewing.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced last week her agency found additional files related to the deaths of RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. that would be publicly released.
And, she said on Friday, her team found 50,000 more pages as they comb through the Archives.
‘Just the other day we discovered and found another 50,000 pages specifically related to the assassination of Senator Robert F Kennedy,’ she told the DailyWire.
She pointed to a group of staffers seated behind her, going through records.
‘The work you’re seeing happening here today is going to continue on as we have other teams going out and doing those searches and hunting for additional records that, once again, have not been found or released to the public ever before,’ Gabbard said.
Robert F Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968 in Los Angeles
Gabbard said Friday’s files had ‘no smoking gun’ but raised many questions.
‘There are more questions than answers. Was there more than one shooter? What was the angle of the shots that were fired? There was a woman who ran away from the scene where Senator Kennedy was shot screaming: we shot him. We shot him,’ she said.
‘There’s so much more, ultimately, that I think needs to be declassified and digitized so that anybody can access this and know what the government knows.’
Gabbard said the release of the files is important to build trust in the government.
‘A lot of this has been shrouded in mystery for most of our lifetimes, and so this transparency of being able to take these documents, scan them in and make it so that people can read them with a click of a button is important. It’s important to the country, and it’s important in our continued search for the truth and building trust in our government,’ she said.
Trump has ordered the release of documents surrounding the deaths of prominent Americans that have been subject to endless speculation about whether government investigations told the truth or were part of a massive coverup.
In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the declassification of records related to the Kennedy brothers and MLK Jr.
‘Everything will be revealed,’ he vowed when he signed it.
But the release of files on the deaths of Jeffrey Epstein and President John F. Kennedy earlier this year have proved a disappointment to the conspiracy world.
They did not find a smoking gun that shed any light on the assortment of theories out there.
The RFK files released Friday are in the same state as the JFK files – thousands of individual files that have to be individually examined.
Robert F Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968 in Los Angeles after he won the California Democratic primary in that year’s presidential election.
It’s unclear how much new information the released files will reveal.
Most of the RFK investigation files are in the California State Archives as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) led the probe.
Those files include the LAPD’s records on the investigation, including documents, photographs, audio tapes, and video tapes.
The FBI also investigated the RFK’s killing so there are files in that agency but most of the information is in California.
Gabbard doesn’t have jurisdiction over state files but she can order the federal ones released.
While a large portion of RFK’s records have been released, some remain fully or partially withheld due to redactions or court-ordered seals.
Tulsi Gabbard’s staff sort through files as part of President Trump’s executive order to release more information
The government records were scanned and turned into digital files
RFK was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, in retaliation for his support of Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. He died 25 hours later.
Sirhan was arrested, tried, and convicted, though RFK’s assassination, like his brother’s, continues to be the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.
Kennedy’s son, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who serves as Trump’s health and human services secretary, supported the files released.
‘I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I’m grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard for her dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents.’
‘Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,’ he said in a statement on Friday.
Robert F Kennedy shortly before he was shot in Los Angeles after his victory rally
Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in April 1968
Gabbard told the DailyWire that RFK Jr. had been given the option to view the files before they were released to the public.
MLK’s family has asked for that same option.
The King material could prove embarrassing for the civil right icon and are said to include unflattering details about his relationships with women that could tarnish his legacy.
Then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover illegally surveilled King in the 1960s, believing King was a communist threat.
The agency also went after King by threatening to send King’s wife, Coretta, a tape of King having an extramarital affair, as well as a note encouraging him to kill himself for the sake of the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed at the Lorraine motel on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1977, the Justice Department launched a task force to probe the FBI’s harassment and investigations of King, as well as his assassination and the criminal investigation.
It also attempted to determine whether the FBI bore any responsibility for King’s assassination.
It found assassin James Earl Ray acted alone but that hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theories.
