Conspiracy theorists are excited, nervous about today's JFK assassination document dump

President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a motorcade in Dallas

(Image credit: Jim Altgens/The Associated Press)

published 26 October 2017

Thursday is the deadline Congress set 25 years ago for the release of the remaining government files on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. President Trump, who can withhold some of the documents if he decides they compromise government sources or methods, teased the release again on Wednesday, tweeting: "The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow. So interesting!" The CIA has been urging Trump to withhold some information, while scholars and conspiracy theorists — including longtime adviser Roger Stone — are pushing Trump to release every scrap of information.

"Clearly there are documents, plural, files, plural, being appealed to him," University of Virginia historian Larry Sabato tells The Associated Press, adding that Trump is still being pressured by spy agencies. "I'm told reliably that it continues and that it has intensified." Still, Trump can't withhold documents just because the government finds them embarrassing, and scholars and JFK assassination buffs will be scouring the document dump for information on Lee Harvey Oswald, identified as the lone shooter who was then shot dead by Jack Ruby, including any government coverup and intelligence on what Oswald was doing in Mexico City before the assassination.

Some people will also be looking for any mention of Rafael Cruz, Sen. Ted Cruz's father, who was alleged in a 2016 tabloid article to have been photographed with Oswald before the assassination. That unconfirmed claim was greatly amplified by Cruz's primary rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Donald Trump.