Rep. Luna accuses CIA of taking JFK and MK-Ultra files under Gabbard’s jurisdiction during declassification process

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Wednesday accused the CIA of taking documents linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the secret MK-Ultra program that, according to her version, were under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, headed by Tulsi Gabbard, and in the process of declassification.

The indictment, according to Luna, came after a CIA whistleblower, identified as James Eardman III, asserted to the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the agency had recovered boxes of files related to JFK and MK-Ultra.

Luna, who chairs the House of Representatives working groupon declassifying federal secrets, said in an interview with NewsNation that the episode was troubling, citing Donald Trump's presidential order to declassify JFK and recalling that the CIA acknowledged for years that the remaining MK-Ultra documents had already been released or destroyed.

"So, these are allegedly those documents that apparently never existed," Luna said during her appearance on NewsNation.

The congresswoman furthermore also threatened to push for a legislative subpoena against the CIA if the agency does not return the documents to Gabbard's office.

In publications on 'X,' Luna argued that the files had been requested by Congress and that the agency should preserve them. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also sent a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe requesting the preservation of all existing and future records related to the JFK assassination, MK-Ultra and the "boxes" mentioned in the testimony.

Despite the complaint, however, Luna later corrected part of the complaint, clarifying that the episode "did not happen today" and that it "was not a 'raid,'" although she insisted that documents over which ODNI had jurisdiction were indeed taken.

That clarification qualified the first versions that described the situation as a physical entry or a direct seizure in the office of Gabbard, which generated numerous criticisms on social networks. The crux of her complaint, therefore, is that the CIA allegedly took files under ODNI authority in the midst of a declassification process.

The confusion grew after Moon itself published and then deleted an announcement about an emergency press conference that sought, it reported, to address alleged actions by individuals within the CIA who would be defying an executive order by President Trump on the JFK assassination.

The additional component of the secret MK-Ultra program makes the case a speculation bomb.

MK-Ultra was a controversial real-life CIA program developed during the Cold War to research behavior modification, chemical interrogation and mind control techniques. Official Senate documents described the program as a behavior modification research operation, and the CIA itself identifies it in its reading room as a covert program related to mind control and chemical interrogation.

According to public records, much of the MK-Ultra files were destroyed in 1973 by order of then-CIA director Richard Helms, which for decades limited the ability to fully reconstruct the scope of the program. For that reason, the possible existence of additional boxes containing documents linked to MK-Ultra would have historical and political relevance, even before their exact contents are known, former CIA official John Kiriakou explained to Fox News host Jesse Watters.

For now, what is known about the case comes mainly in the whistleblower's testimony, Luna's statements and the Oversight Committee's actions. However, doubts remain as to what documents were taken, who authorized the move and where the files are now. As yet, the CIA has not yet released an official statement.