The federal government has published a batch of over 60,000 pages of records related to Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. This is the second big release of records, following a smaller batch of 10,000 documents that came out a few weeks ago.
President Trump ordered the releases in January, with support from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the senator’s son and current Health and Human Services Secretary and has long believed that his father’s convicted killer, Sirhan Sirhan, might actually be innocent.
“I was disturbed that the wrong person might have been convicted of killing my father," Kennedy previously told The Washington Post. "My father was the chief law enforcement officer in this country. I think it would have disturbed him if somebody was put in jail for a crime they didn’t commit.”
However, Sirhan pleaded guilty and admitted he shot Kennedy during his presidential campaign because of his support for Israel. He also said he had no memory of shooting him.
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The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, announced the release of documents on X (formerly Twitter). “After the initial release of 10,000 documents three weeks ago, we searched F.B.I. and C.I.A. warehouses for any records not previously turned over to The National Archives,” Gabbard shared. “More than 60,000 documents were discovered, declassified, and digitized for public viewing. Today’s release is an important step toward maximum transparency, finding the truth, and sharing the truth.”
In a follow-up comment, Gabbard added that while some of the files were 'previously released by the LAPD or to individuals via FOIA requests', this is the 'first time' they’re all available in one place for the public to review. The batch includes transcripts of police interviews with Sirhan, who was reportedly witnessed shooting RFK in front of a crowd while he was campaigning for president.
Letters from the public and world leaders were released in the first batch, some expressing condolences and others pushing various conspiracy theories.
Gabbard’s office said the new documents included 'rumors circulating on foreign soil that Senator Kennedy had been shot one month prior to his true assassination date.'
Reportedly, a few letters were concerned about Sirhan's rights and the circumstances of his background as a Palestinian. Meanwhile, one letter suggested that Robert Kennedy actually died at Chappaquiddick rather than New York.
Despite the release, some experts doubt that the new pages will reveal anything groundbreaking.
“We have always known who assassinated R.F.K., because he was shot in front of a lot of people,” Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, an independent research centre at George Washington University, said. “So this collection can’t be expected to change that history.”
Any conclusive findings will have to wait until scholars and experts thoroughly review the files, which could take a few months.