CIA releases 54 declassified documents on the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Agency Director John Ratcliffe, following President Trump’s executive order, released more than 1,000 pages online related to Senator Kennedy’s assassination.
Screenshot to a declassified Robert F. Kennedy assassination document.
The CIA released 54 declassified documents related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, pursuant to President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14176. Thursday's release provides 1,450 additional pages of historical material that the agency is making available to the public for the first time.
The documents supplement the thousands of pages the CIA provided to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of its public releases related to former President John F. Kennedy earlier this year.
The records reveal for the first time that Senator Kennedy shared with the CIA his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union, as well as details about the communist backlash after the assassination and a suspected Palestinian conspiracy behind the event.
Politics
Trump announced the release of 80,000 pages of classified material on the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Luis Francisco Orozco
CIA under Trump
The agency said it is fully dedicated "to fulfilling President Trump's mandate to release all records related to Senator Kennedy's assassination." The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, also assured that he is proud "to share our work on this very important issue with the American people."
According to the official statement, the release of the 54 documents is a joint effort led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in close coordination with the CIA, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the National Archives.
Gabbard noted that the agencies and departments had spent months locating, reviewing, and digitizing the materials—many of which had never been made public before.
">CIA's release of 54 declassified documents related to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination "delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that is in the public interest." –@DCIARatcliffehttps://t.co/IAhPWICVB3 pic.twitter.com/Zn7DCrvzjM
— CIA (@CIA) June 12, 2025
The newly released files bring the total number of declassified CIA documents on the matter to over 200, amounting to nearly 5,000 pages.
The documents are now available online at cia.gov and archives.gov/rfk.
An assassination shrouded in shadows
Tragically, on June 5, 1968, just moments after delivering a victory speech following his win in California’s primary, Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died in the early hours of June 6, at the age of 42.
The assassin was Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, who remains imprisoned for the crime.
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