In accordance with President Trump’s executive order requiring their release, the Trump administration released a huge cache of documents from the investigation into the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.
According to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence who oversaw the review of the documents, the release of the documents, which total approximately a quarter-million pages of records available on the National Archives website, includes notes on the leads that investigators pursued, interviews with individuals who had contact with assassin James Earl Ray, and previously undisclosed details of interactions with foreign intelligence services during the manhunt for Mr. Ray.
Whether or not the digitized files include disparaging information regarding Dr. King’s personal life is unclear. However, the release coincides with efforts by Mr. Trump and his team to deflect criticism directed at the right after his administration changed its mind and refused to make additional files from the investigation into the murder of the infamous billionaire Jeffrey Epstein public.
The King family has voiced worries that Dr. King’s well-documented sexual transgressions might come to light if his papers were made public. Additionally, some expressed concerns about whether doing so would reinforce a negative, revisionist perception of a man who has come to represent the struggle against institutional racism and the demand for a strong federal protection of minority groups, both of which Mr. Trump has essentially done away with since assuming office.
Although it’s unclear if they were granted the authority to request material redactions, Trump administration officials have communicated with Dr. King’s family.
Bernice and Martin III, Dr. King’s two surviving children, requested that scholars and the public consider all of the information in light of his contributions to American culture.
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