The FBI has discovered about 2,400 documents relating to the assassination of John F. Kennedy that were never given to a board that was supposed to review and disclose the documents, reports Axios.
The White House became aware of the documents when the Director of National Intelligence submitted the plan to comply with Trump's executive order to release all documents relating to the November 22, 1963, assassination.
The discovery of the documents doesn't necessarily indicate anything nefarious. The JFK assassination was one of the most investigated crimes in U.S. history. Forty-eight FBI field offices were involved, and thousands of agents worked on the case. There were bound to be some documents that went undiscovered.
"The FBI conducted a new records search pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order issued on January 23, 2025, regarding the declassification of the assassination files of JFK, RFK, and MLK. The search resulted in approximately 2400 newly inventoried and digitized records that were previously unrecognized as related to the JFK assassination case file," the agency added. "The FBI has made the appropriate notifications of the newly discovered documents and is working to transfer them to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in the ongoing declassification process."
The archivists will now go through the painstaking process of vetting the documents with the various intelligence agencies to make sure no "sources and methods" were revealed.
Trump attempted to declassify and release all assassination records in 2017 but ran into a roadblock from the CIA, which claimed that the documents contained highly sensitive information. The JFK assassination investigations continued in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, and many people interviewed or mentioned in those files are still alive.
"I have no choice," Trump said when he announced the redaction of records in 2017. He referred to the "potentially irreversible harm" to national security if the documents were released.
Despite Trump's order, sources say, the various intelligence agencies with records of the assassination are still recommending redactions.
"When POTUS hears about this stonewalling, he's gonna hit the roof," a White House official told Axios.
"This is total Deep State bulls**t," said another.
"Don't be surprised if all these records just suddenly wind up online," a Trump adviser said. "He wants to move on and call this a promise kept."
The intrigue: The newly discovered FBI files could have relevance in the ongoing federal lawsuit filed by the Mary Ferrell Foundation against the Biden administration in 2022. It alleges federal agencies had more documents related to the assassination that they weren't turning over to the National Archives.
What has changed? It's eight years later, and many of the "sources and methods" felt to be too sensitive to release in 2017 may now be safely revealed. There's also the president's changed mindset. Donald Trump is determined to take a wrecking ball to the United States government, and he may not care if the release of embarrassing information damages the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
JFK assassination researchers have known for years that not all the documents were being released. Lee Harvey Oswald had several contacts with the FBI while in New Orleans, Miami, and Dallas.
There were also files relating to a CIA case officer in Miami, George Joannides. Joannides handled the Cuban exiles who would eventually make a failed attempt to overthrow Castro in the infamous Bay of Pigs incident. Axios reports that the CIA case officer had a "series of encounters with Oswald before the shooting," and those encounters don't appear in any assassination documents.
Some documents will almost certainly embarrass the FBI and/or the CIA. It's not likely, however, that any "smoking gun" evidence of a government conspiracy to kill Kennedy will be in any file released as a result of Trump's executive order.
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