Washington DC, July 22 (UNI) US President Donald Trump’s administration has released a collection of records on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, including FBI surveillance files on the civil rights leader.
A court-imposed order had kept the FBI documents, totalling 230,000 pages, blocked from public view since 1977.
Many members of King’s family had opposed the release, with his two living children condemning “any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy” in a statement.
King, a Baptist minister, was shot in Memphis on April four, 1968, at age 39.
James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to the killing, but later renounced his plea, reports BBC.
In a related development, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) said in a press release yesterday: “The documents include “internal FBI memos” and “never-before-seen CIA records” behind the hunt for King’s assassin, the DNI said.
The release was co-ordinated with the FBI, Department of Justice, National Archives and CIA.
“The American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination of one of our nation’s great leaders,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said.
