Latest news with #RFKassassination
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump's CIA releases 1,500 pages of never-seen-before RFK files including chilling handwritten notes from killer
The CIA released over 1,500 pages Thursday of new previously unseen documents surrounding the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, which included handwritten notes from the convicted killer. The new documents include a heavily redacted psychological profile of Sirhan Sirhan, noting that the man convicted of killing Kennedy had 'high intellectual potential' which was 'not properly utilized,' but conceded he had 'no specialized training in any area.' Kennedy was shot and killed after the Democratic presidential primary in California in June 1968, just four-and-a-half years after his brother President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Sirhan, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, claimed he murdered RFK because of his support for Israel. A personality assessment of Sirhan was also included in the release. 'Obviously, we cannot see him as part of a conspiracy,' the assessment read, but said it was possible 'he could be a tool of a conspiracy' even though 'the odds against him being successful were tremendous.' 'It is very unlikely however that he could have effectively acted under precise instructions,' the memo read. 'Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest,' CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement. 'I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people.' The assessment describes Sirhan as an 'impulsive assassin' rather than a 'calculating assassin.' It included a copy of Sirhan's handwritten notes in which he raged against Kennedy. 'Kennedy must fall. Kennedy must fall. Please pay to the order of Sirhan Sirhan,' reads the note, decrying the 'second group of American Traitors who must be disposed of.' 'We believe that Robert F. Kennedy must be sacrificed for the cause of the poor exploited people,' the notes continued. The documents also revealed that Kennedy met with the CIA after he toured the Soviet Union as a young Senate staffer in 1955 as a voluntary informant. Kennedy delivered significant detail of his trips to the the USSR, visiting locations highlighting the court system, manufacturing facilities, a mosque, collective farms, a music festival, and a union school. 'The records reveal for the first time that Senator Kennedy shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with CIA, reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country,' the CIA said in a statement. DNI Secretary Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe testify at a congressional hearing Other files show the FBI and CIA's concerns that they would be accused of assassinating Sen. Kennedy as part of an ongoing 'political murder conspiracy' circulating in the public. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, thanked the Trump administration for revealing more documents about his father's death. 'Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,' he said. 'I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I'm grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe for their dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents.' Gabbard has focused intently on releasing documents related to Senator Kennedy's death, revealing in April that the documents, 'really support the questions that Secretary Kennedy has been asking for decades about who really killed his father.'
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Robert F. Kennedy met with the CIA after a trip to the Soviet Union, newly declassified files show
WASHINGTON — The CIA released nearly 1,500 pages of previously classified documents relating to New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his 1968 assassination on Thursday, detailing the spy agency's work to investigate his killing as well as previously unknown contacts between him and the agency. Kennedy met with the CIA following a 1955 tour of the Soviet Union, relaying his observations to the spy agency as a voluntary informant, the documents show. The newly available material comprises 54 documents, including memos about the agency's work to investigate whether RFK's killer had any foreign ties, as well as the response to his killing by foreign powers. President Donald Trump had ordered the release of documents relating to the assassinations of RFK, President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. More than 10,000 pages of records pertaining to RFK's assassination were released in April. The records released Thursday also included documents about the JFK and King killings, some produced after RFK's death and dealing with conspiracy theories. 'Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest,' CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement. 'I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people.' Kennedy, a Democrat, was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving a speech celebrating his victory in California's presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan , was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison. One document released Thursday, a CIA memo to the White House the day after the assassination, showed that its first search of its records turned up no information about Sirhan. Kennedy's contacts with the CIA following his visit to the Soviet Union reflected the tensions of the time, and the high value put on personal observations of Americans who traveled to Russia and other former Soviet regions. Prominent elected officials and business leaders visiting the USSR were often asked to share their observations following their return. The documents show that RFK was a voluntary informant. In a statement Thursday, the CIA showed the meetings reflected RFK's 'patriotic commitment' to serving his country. Many of his observations reflected granular observations about daily life. 'On 29 Aug 55, while in Novosibirsk, USSR, a friend and I visited a State machine factory. The factory has 3,500 employees, of whom one third are women. The wage scale is between 840 and 2,500 rubles,' Kennedy told the CIA interviewer, according to the documents. 'The Director of the plant whose name I do not recall was frosty, although the engineer was friendly.' The CIA used artificial intelligence to scan its library for documents related to RFK's assassination that could be declassified. The search turned up many documents that had little to do with his killing, such as the records of RFK's meeting with the CIA. Kennedy's son, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said he was gratified to see the documents' release. 'Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,' Kennedy said. The documents released Thursday included a September 1975 memo from then-CIA Director William Colby to staff, discussing allegations of CIA involvement in JFK's assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, that 'have crept up every so often.' Colby asserted that JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had no contact with the agency. Colby said five pre-assassination CIA records did reference Oswald but 'Oswald's name had no particular meaning before that fateful event.' ___ Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, also contributed reporting. ___ The documents can be found online at and .
CTV News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Robert F. Kennedy met with the CIA after a trip to the Soviet Union, newly declassified files show
A 1964 file photo shows then U.S. Attorney Gen. Robert F. Kennedy in his office in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo) WASHINGTON — The CIA released nearly 1,500 pages of previously classified documents relating to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his 1968 assassination Thursday, detailing the agency's work to investigate his killing, as well as previously unknown contacts between him and the spy agency. Kennedy met with the CIA following a 1955 tour of the Soviet Union, relaying his observations to the spy agency as a voluntary informant, the documents show. The newly available material comprises 54 documents, including memos about the agency's work to investigate whether RFK's killer had any foreign ties, as well as the response to his killing by foreign powers. U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered the release of documents relating to the assassinations of RFK, President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. More than 10,000 pages of records pertaining to RFK's assassination were released in April. 'Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest,' CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement. 'I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people.' Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving a speech celebrating his victory in California's presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison. Kennedy's contacts with the CIA following his visit to the Soviet Union reflected the tensions of the time, and the high value put on personal observations of Americans who traveled to Russia and other former Soviet regions. Prominent elected officials and business leaders visiting the USSR were often asked to share their observations following their return. The documents show that RFK was a voluntary informant. In a statement Thursday, the CIA showed the meetings reflected RFK's 'patriotic commitment' to serving his country. Many of his observations reflected granular observations about daily life. 'On 29 Aug 55, while in Novosibirsk, USSR, a friend and I visited a State machine factory. The factory has 3,500 employees, of whom one third are women. The wage scale is between 840 and 2,500 rubles,' Kennedy told the CIA interviewer, according to the documents. 'The Director of the plant whose name I do not recall was frosty, although the engineer was friendly.' The CIA used artificial intelligence to scan its library for documents related to RFK's assassination that could be declassified. The search turned up many documents that had little to do with his killing, such as the records of RFK's meeting with the CIA. Kennedy's son, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said he was gratified to see the documents' release. 'Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,' Kennedy said. The documents can be found online at and David Klepper, The Associated Press
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
CIA releases 54 declassified documents related to RFK assassination
Washington — The CIA released a new batch of declassified documents surrounding the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, acting on an executive order that President Trump issued soon after taking office. "The records reveal for the first time that Senator Kennedy shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with CIA, reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country," the CIA said in a statement accompanying the release. The disclosure includes 54 newly declassified documents and totals 1,450 pages. Kennedy was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan after the Democratic presidential primary in California in June 1968, four and a half years after President John F. Kennedy, his brother, was slain in Dallas. The president ordered the intelligence community to review and release documents related to the RFK, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations in an executive order in January. A large batch of JFK documents was unveiled in March, with tens of thousands of pages of additional material. The Trump administration previously released two other tranches of documents related to RFK: roughly 10,000 pages in April and 60,000 pages in May. "Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest," CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement about the new documents. "I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people." Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., RFK's son, welcomed the release in a statement. "Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government," the younger RFK said. "I commend President Trump for his courage and his commitment to transparency. I'm grateful also to Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe for their dogged efforts to root out and declassify these documents."
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration releases 60,000 more files on RFK assassination
The federal government published more than 60,000 pages of records on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination late Wednesday — the second tranche of documents to be released on the 1968 slaying. The releases were ordered by President Trump in January, with backing from the senator's son, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed for years that his father's convicted killer Sirhan Sirhan might be innocent. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the documents "have been sitting in various storage facilities across the federal government for decades and had never been digitized or accessible to the public before." They were digitized by ODNI — which is led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — and posted on the National Archives website. "Today's release is an important step toward maximum transparency, finding the truth, and sharing the truth," Gabbard said in a post on Truth Social. Mr. Trump has also ordered the release of documents on President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 killing. Some John F. Kennedy files were released in March, but the King documents have not been released. What's in the RFK files — and will we learn anything new? ODNI said the documents posted Wednesday include "never-before-seen details about the FBI's investigation into the assassination of RFK — including the discussion of potential leads by various FBI offices, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, and more." The records also include recordings of Los Angeles police interviews with Sirhan and eyewitnesses to the 1968 assassination, according to ODNI. But it's unclear whether the files will reveal new information about Robert F. Kennedy's killing. The senator's 1968 assassination was primarily investigated and prosecuted by authorities in Los Angeles. Documents from the local investigation — along with many records from a separate FBI probe — have been publicly available in California's state archives since the late 1980s. ODNI said some of the records that were published Wednesday had previously been handed over to the Los Angeles Police Department. What did last month's RFK files say? The government released a trove of 10,000 records on Robert F. Kennedy last month. A CBS News review found the documents included handwritten notes from Sirhan — including ones in which Sirhan wrote "RFK must be disposed of like his brother was" — as well as FBI memos on Sirhan, crime scene and autopsy photos, witness interviews and other materials. A few of those records make reference to common conspiracy theories about the assassination, including mentions of witnesses seeing a woman in a polka-dot dress or somebody shouting "we shot him." Other witnesses said they didn't see anybody matching that description. Many of the details in those files were already publicly known. Who killed RFK — and what has RFK Jr. said? Sirhan was convicted of killing Robert F. Kennedy — then a Democratic presidential primary candidate — at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was arrested shortly after the shooting and he was 24 years old at the time. Sirhan has admitted to killing the senator at various points, sometimes claiming it was due to the senator's support for Israel, though at other times, Sirhan has said he is innocent or said he couldn't remember the incident. Sirhan has been incarcerated in California for decades, and multiple requests for parole have been unsuccessful. The state's parole board endorsed his 2021 bid for parole, but California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the request. The case has drawn public fascination for decades, with some observers claiming Sirhan didn't fire the fatal shots or acted as part of a wider conspiracy. They often cite conflicting eyewitness testimonies or the alleged presence of extra bullets — though many others have backed the view that Sirhan acted alone. One of the skeptics is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was 14 years old when his father was assassinated. He has argued Sirhan wasn't responsible for the killing, and met with him in prison before backing his 2021 request for parole. However, other members of the Kennedy family have staunchly opposed Sirhan's release from prison.
