Ledger · First term · № 117
Promise to open 'the long blocked and classified JFK FILES'
Partial“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”
- Promised
- , Twitter, five days before the statutory October 26, 2017 deadline
- Stated deadline
- “by October 26 (five days)” → October 26, 2017
- Overdue by
- 8 years, 10 months as of September 22, 2026
- Re-promised
- 2 times with a fresh deadline
- Topic
- Transparency & records
- Era
- First term
What happened
On October 26, 2017, hours before the statutory deadline, about 2,800 records were released but roughly 300 were withheld at the request of the CIA and FBI. Trump's memo said he had 'no choice — today — but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our nation's security,' and ordered a review to release as much as possible by April 26, 2018. Further batches trickled out for years and full release never happened in his first term.
Sources
- Final batch of JFK files released under Trump directive
- New Group of JFK Assassination Documents Available to the Public
- Trump releasing trove of JFK files, withholding others temporarily
- Trump blocks release of some JFK assassination records
- Thousands of JFK assassination documents are released, though some are withheld