Washington — The Trump administration began releasing the first tranche of records on Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination on Friday, totaling approximately 10,000 pages of previously classified documents.
The disclosure, ordered by President Trump within days of taking office and supported by the senator’s son, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could reignite speculation about the decades-old killing, as the younger Kennedy believes his father’s convicted assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, may be innocent.
According to a CBS News review, the documents include scans of convicted assassin Sirhan’s handwritten notes, witness interviews, crime scene and autopsy photos, FBI memos about Sirhan and his whereabouts prior to the shooting, correspondence from the American public in response to the assassination, and interviews with Sirhan’s family.
Many of the information contained in the files was already known.
Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, stated that the release, which began Friday, is the result of a collaborative effort with the National Archives and other agency officials to scan and upload over 10,000 pages, which will be available for the American people to view online “to fulfill President Trump’s maximum transparency promise.”
The records will be published with limited redactions for privacy reasons, such as protecting Social Security numbers, she stated.
Gabbard stated that an additional 50,000 pages of files related to Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination were discovered during searches of CIA and FBI warehouses for documents that had not yet been turned over to the Archives. The director of national intelligence stated that agencies are working to make those documents available and will continue to search government facilities for more.
What did the RFK files say?
So far, the documents released appear to include Justice Department and FBI memos, photos of evidence collected during the Robert F. Kennedy assassination investigation, and news clippings. Some scanned records are difficult to read, as are the handwritten notes included with the tranche.
Some of Sirhan’s apparent notes viewed by CBS News include messages like “RFK must be disposed of like his brother was” and “My determination to eliminate RFK is becoming more [and] more of an unshakeable obsession.” Other notes from Sirhan expressing hatred for Robert F. Kennedy have been public for decades and were used in his trial.
Also in the files is a 1968 FBI memo that provided an assessment of Sirhan, including the fact that he fell from a horse and suffered a head injury in 1966, and family members claimed his behavior changed dramatically afterward.
A June 12 FBI memo describes Robert F. Kennedy’s widow Ethel Kennedy’s “distraught” reactions to the shooting, with one ambulance worker recalling her telling him, “Keep your hands off him,” and another witness claiming she knocked over a TV news camera and struck a reporter in the chest at the hospital.
Some of the documents include eyewitness interviews about Sirhan and the shooting. Several of these records address long-standing conspiracy theories about the assassination.
There are reports of witnesses seeing a woman in a polka-dot dress or someone shouting “we shot him,” which is frequently mentioned in theories about the shooting, but other witnesses say they didn’t see anyone fitting that description.
What could the new RFK files reveal?
Before the documents were released, several experts told CBS News that it was unclear what new information would be revealed about the 1968 slaying.
Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination was primarily investigated and prosecuted by local officials in Los Angeles, and files from that investigation, as well as many records from a parallel FBI investigation, have been publicly available in California’s state archives for decades with few exceptions. It’s unclear whether other federal agencies have records related to the assassination.
The administration has also promised to release files on Rev. Martin Luther King’s 1968 assassination, as well as troves of declassified files on President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, which it did in March.
Why did Trump release RFK files — and is RFK Jr. involved?
Mr. Trump directed his administration to release records on King, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy in late January. In an April 10 cabinet meeting, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated that the King and Robert F. Kennedy files would be ready within days, including decades-old documents that “have never been scanned or seen before.”
“Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of President Trump,” Gabbard told reporters.
“My team is honored that the President has entrusted us with leading the declassification efforts and shedding long-overdue light on the truth. I am deeply grateful for Bobby Kennedy’s and his families’ support.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed “deep gratitude” for his release.
The health secretary, who was 14 years old when his father was assassinated, has been following the case for years, doubting that Sirhan was to blame. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., unlike many of his siblings, supported Sirhan’s 2021 parole request after meeting with him in prison.
Who killed RFK?
Sirhan was arrested shortly after the 1968 assassination, which occurred at the Ambassador Hotel while Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning for president, and convicted of murder. He has admitted to killing the senator and linked it to Robert F. Kennedy’s support for Israel, but he has also denied responsibility or claimed he does not remember the incident.
Sirhan’s requests for parole have been repeatedly denied. California’s parole board supported his 2021 bid for early release, but Governor Gavin Newsom overruled it.
Nonetheless, the case has received widespread attention, with some critics, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claiming Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots or that other parties were involved in the killing.
Skeptics typically point to problems with eyewitness testimony or the alleged presence of extra bullets at the crime scene, though other researchers have supported the theory that Sirhan acted alone.