President Trump pledged Friday evening to release all of the secret John F. Kennedy assassination records, and said only the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still alive will be left out.
“I am doing this for reasons of full disclosure, transparency and in order to put any and all conspiracy theories to rest,” Trump added in his tweet message, which came in the form of a graphic with the text of his quote. Trump said he made his decision after speaking to White House chief of staff John Kelly, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other agencies.
He did not specify when this release would be.
#JFKFiles pic.twitter.com/AnPBSJFh3J
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017
Trump blocked the release of about 300 of the remaining 3,100 JFK documents on Thursday, while giving concerned agencies six months to review their contents for possible redactions related to “national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns.”
Trump’s tweet Friday suggests that he might be changing his mind.
His use of the word “transparency” echoes a comment by longtime political operative Roger Stone, who claims to be very close to the White House, and told the Washington Examiner that last week he “laid out the case for transparency” to Trump over the phone on why he should release the JFK files.
Stone also has said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo pressed Trump to block the release of some of the documents.
A CIA spokesperson issued a brief statement when the Washington Examiner asked for comment over the weekend. “CIA continues to engage in the process to determine the appropriate next steps with respect to any previously-unreleased CIA information,” said CIA media spokesperson Nicole de Haay.
Trump tweeted earlier in the day Friday that he hopes to get “just about” all of the information in the files related to the assassination of Kennedy in 1963 released to the public.
