JFK's Grandson Lashes Out At Donald Trump Over Assassination Files

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to declassify files related to major 20th-century assassinations that changed the course of history, promising "transparency." But at least one family member of John F. Kennedy thinks it's all just theater. The directive was signed on January 23 and addressed files related to the assassinations of JFK, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. "Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth," it read.

But one of JFK's grandsons, Jack Schlossberg, says he's not interested in being part of what he sees as a publicity stunt, writing on X that there is "nothing heroic" about the release of the documents. "Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he's not here to punch back," he added. Schlossberg also said that the truth of his grandfather's assassination is, quote, "a lot sadder than the myth," stating that it wasn't part of a broad conspiracy. 

King's family also issued a reaction to the plan to declassify the records. "For us, the assassination of our father is a deeply personal family loss that we have endured over the last 56 years," The King Center wrote in a statement on X. "We hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family prior to its public release."

JFK's 1963 assassination in Dallas, of course, has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. Many doubted that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, killed the then-president on his own. The theories became so mainstream that there was even a blockbuster, Oscar-winning 1991 movie, "JFK," that posited Oswald could not have acted alone.

The 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles has given rise to conspiracy theories of its own. One posits that there was second gunman, while another presents a "Manchurian candidate" scenario. RFK was running for president at the time of his death.

King was also assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. The culprit was James Earl Ray, and conspiracy theories suggest that the United States government was somehow involved. It should be noted that it is undeniably true that the FBI engaged in what APM Reports called "an extensive program of surveillance and harassment" against King for years.

There are theories about CIA and FBI involvement in all three assassinations, in fact, which may play some role in Trump's apparent fascination with publicizing federal records about them. This isn't even the first time he's done this. In 2017, not too long after the start of his first term, Trump ordered the release of a large number of documents related to JFK's assassination, but some were kept under wraps due to agency concerns over national security. In 2022, then-president Joe Biden released even more of the documents, though some were still withheld.

Of course, it bears mentioning that a prominent member of the Kennedy family, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is set to be a key part of the Trump administration. The Senate confirmation hearing for RFK Jr. to head up the Department of Health and Human Services is set for January 29, 2025. According to The Hill, RFK Jr. praised his boss-to-be's decision to release files on his father and uncle's assassinations. "He's keeping his promise to have the government tell the truth to the American people about everything," he told reporters

You can also count RFK Jr. among those who think the CIA was involved in JFK's death. He said on Fox News, "Yeah. It was a plot. It was a conspiracy. There were multiple people involved." The Kennedy family has made clear, though, that RFK Jr. doesn't speak for them. In October 2023, when RFK Jr. was still running for president as an independent candidate, four of his siblings released a statement that read, in part, "Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment."