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US president Donald Trump has vowed to declassify files relating to the assassinations of John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Re-elected to the White House in November, Trump officially began duty as the 47th president of the United States on 20 January and one of his first promises of his second reign has been to reveal all about some of the most speculated-about events in American history.
“In the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records related to the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, his brother Robert F Kennedy, as well as Dr Martin Luther King Jr and other topics of great public interest,” Trump told the crowd in his final speech before becoming president for a second time, repeating a promise he made numerous times on the campaign trail last year, including during his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience in October.
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During the first year of his initial presidential term, Trump also released a collection of documents related to President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
But he ultimately backed down from plans to release more revealing documents after pressure from the CIA and FBI not to go further. A large portion of the documents were said to contain sensitive information relating to current or past government employees whose security could have been compromised by their release.
Trump discussed this episode when he was a guest on Rogan's hugely popular podcast last year.
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“I opened them up partially. I was met with — from good people, I mean, you know, look at me, good people, people that were well-meaning, Mike Pompeo was one of them, he’s a good person. Uh, they called me they said ‘Sir, would rather, have you not.’ After — and I did open them, but I was asked by some people not to open them,” Trump told the UFC commentator.
But then Trump promised that – if he were to be re-elected – he'd reopen the files he was told not to release and make them public, a vow upon which he claims he will now deliver.
“It’s a cleansing, you know, it’s really a cleansing, so I’m going to do it,” he said. “I’m going to do it immediately, almost immediately, upon entering office.”
Ryan Baldi