On Monday, the federal government made public the documents related to the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fulfilling a directive issued earlier this year by President Trump. The Trump administrations release of the FBI’s surveillance of King Jr. was met with opposition from his family and the civil rights group that he led until his assassination.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr would be made public, writing on X: “Today, after nearly 60 years of questions surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are releasing 230,000 MLK assassination files, available now at http://archives.gov/mlk. The documents include details about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information about James Earl Ray’s former cellmate who stated he discussed with Ray an alleged assassination plot, and more.”
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), more than 230,000 pages of records were released—many of which had been stored away, undigitized, in government archives for decades. “These documents have been gathering dust in various federal buildings for years, until today,” the ODNI stated. The release involves records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
ODNI emphasized that this is the first time all these documents have been released online as a single collection, with minimal redactions. While some of the materials had previously been obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Monday’s release marks the most comprehensive and centralized publication to date.
The newly available records include detailed FBI reports discussing potential leads, internal agency communications outlining the progress of the investigation, and files referencing a former prison cellmate of James Earl Ray, the man who confessed to killing King. That individual reportedly spoke with Ray about a possible plan to assassinate the civil rights leader. Also included are CIA documents tied to the international search for Ray after he fled the U.S., before ultimately being captured and pleading guilty to the murder.
King’s family was given access to preview the documents two weeks prior to the release; however, some family members expressed concerns in advance. “This was an incredibly personal loss for our family—something we’ve carried with us for 56 years,” they stated. “We hoped to be given the chance to examine the records together before the public release.” Alveda King, Dr. King’s niece, supported the release, calling it “a historic move toward uncovering the truth the American people are entitled to.”
King’s surviving children, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, acknowledged the historical significance of the records in a joint statement issued through the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. They urged the public to approach the materials with care. “While we recognize the interest these files generate, we ask that people read them with compassion, sensitivity, and respect for our family’s ongoing mourning .. We support transparency and accountability in our nation’s history, but we strongly oppose any attempts to misuse this information to discredit our father or the broader Civil Rights Movement. Anyone who leans on the FBI’s surveillance as evidence risks reinforcing efforts to undermine what he stood for.”
James Earl Ray admitted to killing King in Memphis one year after the shooting and received a 99-year prison sentence. He later withdrew his confession and spent the rest of his life seeking a retrial, though his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful until his death in 1998. Subsequently, some members of King’s family have expressed doubt about Ray’s role in the killing. Their statement on Monday highlighted a 1999 civil case in Tennessee, in which a jury concluded that Loyd Jowers—along with several other conspirators, including government entities—was responsible for King’s death.
Official investigations have not reached a consistent conclusion, and the Justice Department inquiries in 1977 and again in 2000 both reaffirmed that Ray carried out the assassination and found no evidence of a broader conspiracy. Meanwhile, a 1970s congressional investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations determined that King was likely killed as part of a conspiracy involving Ray, but found no proof that the federal government was involved.
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