Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to declassify files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Why it matters: The files relating to JFK’s killing have been the focus of decades of speculation.

• “Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth,” Trump said in the order. “It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.”

State of play: Records related to the former president’s assassination were meant to be publicly disclosed in 2017 unless the federal government determined their release would harm national security or go against the public interest.

• “I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue,” Trump said.
• Congress did not require the release of files related to King or the former senator, but Trump said the release of those records “is also in the public interest.”

Between the lines: The longtime classification of the documents contributed to conspiracy theories about the killings.

Catch up quick: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Trump ally and Cabinet pick, believes the CIA had a role in assassinating his uncle, which was part of why he unsuccessfully pushed his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, for deputy CIA director.

• He’s also said there’s “convincing” but “circumstantial” evidence that the CIA was involved in his father’s death.
• No such evidence has ever surfaced and the Warren Commission determined that gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

Context: Trump said in August that he’d establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts.

• The commission would be tasked with releasing documents of the previous assassinations and the attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Flashback: In 2022, former President Biden authorized the National Archives to release thousands of secret documents related to JFK’s assassination.

• Trump released nearly 3,000 files in 2017. He withheld the rest at the time because of requests from various agencies.

Zoom out: JFK was killed in 1963, and civil rights leader King and RFK were both killed in 1968.

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with details throughout.