Trump JFK files release welcomed by Congress as ‘restoration’ of public trust

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are praising the Trump administration’s release of government documents on John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

The National Archives released a tranche of some 80,000 pages late on Tuesday night, part of a long-standing promise by President Donald Trump to declassify information on the historic event.

And though there did not appear to be revelatory information in the initial release, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., a progressive Democrat who co-sponsored legislation to publicize the Kennedy files, was among those who praised the move.

“It’s too soon to know whether there’s much in the documents released today, but it is a good sign that some progress toward the goal of full disclosure is under way,” Cohen said Tuesday night. “The assassinations of the 1960s need to be understood in their full historical context and the documents being released may help us get there.”

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Republicans were more enthusiastic in their praise, however, including House GOP Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. He also offered praise for Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., whom he tapped to lead a task force aimed at getting other critical government records declassified.

“President Trump has the most transparent administration in history. President Trump is more accessible to the American people than his predecessor and his administration is releasing critical information to the American people,” Comer said.

Luna said, “By investigating the newly released JFK files, consulting experts, and tracking down surviving staff of various investigative committees, my task force will get to the bottom of this mystery and share our findings with the American people.”

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“I am happy that after decades of questions from the public and government cover-ups that the American people finally may have answers to the JFK assassination,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.

“President Trump is once again showing his commitment to having the most transparent administration this country has ever seen.”

Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., who introduced the initial legislation to declassify unredacted records from the Kennedy assassination, said, “It’s been 61 years since the tragic murder of President John F. Kennedy. A truly functioning republic ensures Americans have access to information, and this moment symbolizes the long-awaited restoration of the people’s trust in the federal government.”

While a large share of the documents released are not new, nor do they appear to contain explosive new information, a significant number are presented without redactions for the first time – a long-awaited first step for history buffs and others who were invested in one of the defining tragedies of the 20th century.

Trump signed an executive order directing the release of thousands of files related to Kennedy’s assassination, as well as the assassinations of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., soon after returning to the White House for his second term.

“That’s a big one. Lot of people are waiting for this a long, for years, for decades,” the president said when he signed the order. He asked that the pen he used be given to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.