10,000 Pages Unsealed in RFK Assassination Case

Approximately 10,000 pages of documents pertaining to the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy were made public on Friday. Among these records is a handwritten note from the assassin, which stated that the Democrat needed to be eliminated.

This release is part of the ongoing declassification of national secrets initiated by President Donald Trump.

Kennedy was shot and killed on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, just moments after delivering a speech celebrating his victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. His killer, Sirhan Sirhan, was found guilty of first-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence.

The newly released files also contained images of Sirhan’s handwritten notes.

“RFK must be disposed of like his brother was,” was inscribed on the exterior of an empty envelope that bore the return address of the district director of the Internal Revenue Service in Los Angeles. In another document, the assassin expressed his desire for the current president to be overthrown. At the time of RFK’s assassination, Democrat Lyndon Johnson was the sitting president.

“I do not have any concrete plans yet, but I will formulate them soon,” wrote Sirhan, who expressed his support for communist regimes in Russia and China.

FBI records detail interviews with tourists who had heard rumors about Kennedy’s impending assassination weeks prior to the event. Several individuals who visited Israel in May 1968 reported that a tour guide had mentioned Kennedy had been shot. One person recounted hearing that an assassination attempt had occurred in Milwaukee, while another claimed he had heard Kennedy was shot in Nebraska.

The National Archives and Records Administration has uploaded 229 files containing these documents to its public website. While many files related to the assassination had been previously disclosed, others had not been digitized and remained in federal storage for decades.

The announcement follows the recent disclosure of unredacted documents pertaining to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred a month prior. These files provided inquisitive readers with further insights into covert U.S. operations during the Cold War, although they did not substantiate the longstanding conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s assassination.

Former President Trump, a member of the Republican Party, has advocated for transparency by promoting the release of documents associated with notable assassinations and investigations. However, he has also expressed significant skepticism towards the intelligence agencies of the government over the years. The release of previously classified files during his administration invites greater public examination and raises questions regarding the actions and findings of organizations like the CIA and FBI.

In January, Trump issued an executive order mandating the release of government documents related to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., both of whom were killed within a two-month span.

For decades, attorneys representing Kennedy’s assassin have argued that he is unlikely to reoffend or pose a threat to society. In 2021, a parole board found Sirhan eligible for release; however, Governor Gavin Newsom overturned this decision in 2022, keeping him incarcerated. In 2023, another panel denied his release, citing his continued lack of understanding regarding the motivations behind his actions in the assassination of Kennedy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late New York senator who currently holds the position of health and human services secretary, praised Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, for their bravery and persistent efforts in releasing these documents.

The health secretary stated that unveiling the RFK files is a crucial step towards rebuilding trust in the American government.