Trump Admin. Releases Thousands Of Govt. Docs On MLK Jr.’s Death
The Trump administration released around 230,000 pages on Monday related to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The National Archives said more files are expected to follow.
The files, now available online, include details about the FBI’s investigation, internal memos about leads, and information from James Earl Ray’s former cellmate.
Not included: Tapes or transcripts of the FBI's wiretapping of the civil rights leader. Those could remain sealed until 2027 — 50 years after the FBI transferred the files to the National Archives.
WHO DONE IT?
King’s family has long questioned whether Ray acted alone or if he was even involved.
In 1999, the King family filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit in Tennessee. The jury concluded that Loyd Jowers, the former Memphis tavern owner who said he had hired someone other than Ray to kill King, and unspecified government agencies,
were responsible for King’s murder, and that Ray was set up for the crime.The Department of Justice has asserted that Jowers fabricated his allegations.
The newly released files also explore the idea that someone named Raoul orchestrated King’s murder, using Ray as a pawn.
Jowers referenced a name that sounded like “Raoul” when he described the other people who were participating in the conspiracy to kill King.
Bottom line: So far, it does not look like the release had anything groundbreaking, with multiple King historians telling the New York Times that there was little of note.
FYI: In 1998, King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, asked for the probe into MLK’s assassination to be reopened. Then-Attorney General Janet Reno directed the Civil Rights Division of the US Justice Department to take a new look.
The Justice Department said it “found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King.”
KING’S FAMILY REACTS
King’s two surviving children said they "object to any attacks on our father's legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods" with the newly released records.
King has been accused of having extramarital affairs, fathering a child with a mistress, and being present in a hotel room when a friend raped a woman — claims that remain controversial and unverified.
Bernice King, King’s youngest daughter and the C.E.O. of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, had another message to Trump after he released the records:
BEEN HERE BEFORE
When Trump began his second term, he signed an executive order calling for the declassification of records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and MLK Jr. The JFK records were unsealed in March, and RFK files followed in April. Similarly, there were not any major revelations.