[van id=”us/2017/10/21/jfk-files-lee-harvey-oswald-assasination-smerconish.cnn”]
By Jeremy Diamond
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration will release classified government documents about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Thursday, the deadline Congress set for making the files public.
“The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow. So interesting!” the President tweeted.
Congress mandated the public release of the still-secret documents — including FBI and CIA files — by the Thursday deadline, barring any action by the President to block the release of certain documents.
Trump still hasn’t made clear whether he’ll allow the full release of the documents or block certain files from publication, which he can do if he believes making them public could pose harm to US intelligence, law enforcement, the military or US foreign relations.
Elements of the intelligence community have urged Trump not to release some of the documents.
Historians who have studied the assassination do not believe the documents will lead to any bombshell new conclusions in the Kennedy assassination, but the documents could shed more light on facets of the investigation and Lee Harvey Oswald’s mysterious trip to Mexico City weeks before the assassination. Some have expressed concerns that the documents could be embarrassing to Mexico and damaging to US-Mexico relations.
A White House official told reporters Saturday: “The President believes that these documents should be made available in the interests of full transparency unless agencies provide a compelling and clear national security or law enforcement justification otherwise.”
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