In a long-anticipated move, the U.S. federal government has published thousands of documents related to the 1968 assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., following a directive issued earlier this year by President Trump. The release marks a significant moment in the nation’s historical reckoning with the assassination and its aftermath.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the more than 230,000 pages had remained undigitized and stored across federal archives for decades. Now made public for the first time in a consolidated digital format, the documents include sensitive materials from the FBI, CIA, and other agencies involved in the case.
The documents “had never been digitized and sat collecting dust in facilities across the federal government for decades, until today,” said the ODNI.
The records contain a wide range of investigative details, such as internal FBI memos tracking the case’s development, discussions of potential leads, and accounts from James Earl Ray’s former cellmate, who allegedly discussed an assassination plot with him. Also included are CIA documents relating to the global search for Ray after he fled the country, before ultimately being captured and pleading guilty to King’s murder.
“The American people have waited nearly sixty years to see the full scope of the federal government’s investigation into Dr. King’s assassination,” said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a statement.
This is the first time the collection has been published online with minimal redactions. While some of the documents were previously released through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, ODNI stated this marks the most comprehensive and accessible compilation to date. King’s family was given access to the files two weeks ahead of their public release.
Still, not all family members were in favor of the timing. Some expressed discomfort with the process and the potential emotional toll.
“For us, the assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years. We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release,” read a statement from family members prior to the document release.
King’s children, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, acknowledged public interest in the files but asked for the materials to be approached with care and compassion.
They said in a joint statement, “We understand the records have long been a subject of interest,” but urged people to engage with them “with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continued grief.”
The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change released a statement emphasizing concern about how the FBI’s actions during the 1960s — including extensive surveillance of King — could be misrepresented today. A later Justice Department report determined the surveillance was “very probably” illegal.
“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods,” the family stated. “Those who promote the fruit of the FBI’s surveillance will unknowingly align themselves with an ongoing campaign to degrade our father and the Civil Rights Movement.”
Bernice King, who was five years old when her father was assassinated, expressed her emotional distress in an interview and on social media.
“I wonder why I have to be confronted once again with something that was very confusing and distressing for me as a five-year-old. I am, honestly, not prepared to revisit the gruesome details of this painful history. For me, there is no real value in it; there is only reliving the trauma,” she wrote in Vanity Fair.
Later, she posted on X: “Now, do the Epstein files.”
Despite some pushback, other relatives supported the release.
Alveda King, the late civil rights leader’s niece, called the release “a historic step towards the truth that the American people deserve,” according to ODNI.
President Trump’s directive to declassify records also included files related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. JFK documents were released in March, while a series of RFK-related records began rolling out in April.
Public intrigue has persisted over the decades, often fueled by doubts regarding whether the individuals convicted in each of these three high-profile killings acted alone.
James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder in 1969 and received a 99-year sentence. However, he later recanted his confession and sought a new trial for years, maintaining his innocence until his death in 1998.
Some members of the King family have long doubted Ray’s guilt. In 1999, a civil court jury in Tennessee ruled in a wrongful death lawsuit that Loyd Jowers and other unnamed co-conspirators — including U.S. government entities — were involved in King’s assassination.
Official investigations have offered varying conclusions. The Department of Justice conducted reviews in 1977 and again in 2000, both concluding that Ray acted alone. However, the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s determined that King’s death was probably the result of a conspiracy involving Ray, but without direct government involvement.
This latest release opens a vast trove of records to researchers, historians, and the public — shedding light on one of the most pivotal and painful events in American history. Whether it brings clarity, controversy, or deeper questions remains to be seen.
