Trump administration releases documents on killing civil rights leaders

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has released records of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, including FBI surveillance files on civil rights leaders.

The court-imposed orders have retained FBI documents since 1977, totaling 230,000 pages.

Many members of the King’s family opposed the release. His statement from two living children condemned “any attempt to abuse the documents aimed at destroying the legacy of our father.”

Baptist Secretary King was shot to death at the age of 39 in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

“We ask those involved in these documents to sympathize, restrain, and respect the ongoing grief of our family,” Jr Jr’s two living children, Martin III and Bernice, said in a statement Monday.

“The publication of these documents must be viewed within their complete historical context.

“In the lifetime of our father, he was ruthlessly subjected to invasive, predatory and disturbing obsession and surveillance movements, carefully planned by J Edgar Hoover through the FBI.”

The statement said the government’s surveillance denied the king’s “dignity and freedom of private citizens.”

During the campaign, Trump promised Americans to release documents on the assassination of King and former President John Kennedy.

He signed an executive order in January that would explain documents in both assassinations and records of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“The MLK documents released today have never been digitized and have collected decades of dust in federal government facilities until today,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) said in a press release on Monday.

The documents included “internal FBI memorandum” and “never seen CIA records” behind the search for the king’s assassin, DNI said.

The press release coordinates with the FBI, the Department of Justice, the National Archives and the CIA.

“After the horrific assassination of one of our country’s great leaders, the American people deserve answers,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

In a statement from the Kings, they cited a jury verdict in a 1999 civil lawsuit for illegal death, finding that the civil rights leader was not the victim of a lonely racist gunman, but a huge conspiracy.

The family said it will evaluate newly released documents for “other insights” other than the facts currently known.

Trump critics pointed out that the release was due to the administration’s accused of lacking archives related to influential sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose 2019 jail death was ruled as suicide.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton said the release of the King’s Archives was a “desperate attempt to distract”, which was a “fire” engulfing Trump’s devour of Epstein’s archives, and the public public revealed his credibility.”

Not all the king’s families were upset about the release.

Alveda King, who calls civil rights leaders “my uncle,” said: “I thank President Trump and President Deni Gabbard for their transparent commitments.

“The decryption and release of these documents is a historical step towards the fact that the American people deserve as we continue to mourn his death.”

Before his arrest, King’s convicted assassin James Earl Ray fled to Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom, He raided the bank.

He was extradited to Memphis, pleaded guilty in 1969 and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Later, he claimed he was framed by a dark conspirator and tried to withdraw his guilty plea, but the court repeatedly upheld. Lei died in 1998 at the age of 70.