More than 230, 000 pages of documents relating to Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader, were released by the administration of US President Donald Trump in 1968.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard referred to the president’s commitment to “complete transparency” in a statement released on Monday.
After taking office, Trump signed an executive order declassifying documents relating to the murders of King, former president John F. Kennedy, and former senator Robert F. Kennedy.
King’s records had been kept under a court-imposed seal since 1977 when the FBI first gathered them and gave them to the National Archives and Records Administration.
The National Archives released documents related to Robert F. Kennedy’s April 1968 murder and John F. Kennedy’s November 1963 assassination.
In Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968, King was killed. Although King’s children have doubted that James Earl Ray was the killer, he was found guilty of the murder and passed away in 1998.
His family, which included his two living children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, had their own teams review the records before the release was made public. Those efforts continued as the digital trove was made public by the government.
The King children described their father’s assassination as a “captivating public curiosity for decades” in a lengthy statement released on Monday. However, the pair urged that “these files be viewed in full historical context” and highlighted the matter’s personal nature.
According to a joint statement from then-FBI director J Edgar Hoover, the civil rights leader was the target of an “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign” during his lifetime.
According to them, the FBI campaign was meant to “discredit, discredit, and destroy Dr. King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement.” These actions were “intentionally assaults on the truth,” not just infringe on one’s privacy.
On Monday, it was unclear whether the release would bring any fresh insight into King’s life, the civil rights movement, or his murder.
The release date raises questions.
The most recent release serves as another alternative headline for Trump as he attempts to placate supporters upset about how his administration handled the sex trafficking investigation involving Jeffrey Epstein, who died while awaiting trial in 2019, during his first presidency, was handled. Trump obstinated from releasing the grand jury testimony on Friday, instead requiring the Department of Justice to release the entire case file.
Users accused the administration of disclosing King’s files on social media to distract from criticisms of how it handled the Epstein files.
This is unacceptable.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard is trying to deceive the public by releasing the Epstein files in opposition to the Trump administration’s policy of releasing them, against the wishes of his family.
Weaponizing…
Trump was not mentioned in Bernice King’s and Martin Luther King III’s statements on Monday. The administration had not made any comments on the release as of late on Monday afternoon.
Source: Aljazeera
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