(WASHINGTON) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday announced the release of 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Today, after nearly 60 years of questions surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are releasing 230,000 MLK assassination files, available now at http://archives.gov/mlk,” Gabbard wrote in a post on X. “The documents include details about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information about James Earl Ray’s former cellmate who stated he discussed with Ray an alleged assassination plot, and more.”
King, a Baptist minister from Atlanta and the country’s most famous civil rights activist, was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39.
James Earl Ray, a convicted robber and prison escapee, was identified as King’s killer after his fingerprint was found on the rifle used in the assassination and discarded near the murder scene. Police believe Ray shot King from a boarding house across from the Lorraine Motel after stalking the civil rights leader for more than two weeks.
In March 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, where he died in 1998.
Following Monday’s announcement, King’s family called for the documents’ release to be “viewed within their full historical context.”
“During our father’s lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),” his family said in a statement. “The intent of the government’s COINTELPRO campaign was not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle, and destroy Dr. King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement.”
The family said that as it reviews the released files, “we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted.” They also said they “strongly condemn any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy and the significant achievements of the movement.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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