Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Thursday that she has a sizeable team putting in extra hours to organize and archive government files connected to the 1968 assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for making those records publicly available.

Last January, US President Donald Trump released classified files pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, his brother, and Martin Luther King Jr., fulfilling a long-held pledge. 

“I’ve had over 100 people working around the clock to scan the paper,” Gabbard told President Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “These have been sitting in boxes in storage for decades — they have never been scanned or seen before.”

“We’ll have those ready to release here within the next few days,” she added.

🚨BREAKING: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announces files on the assassinations of RFK and MLK Jr. will be "ready to release here within the next few days"
pic.twitter.com/91YjUUX2Qo

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 10, 2025

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and his former attorney general, was running for the Democratic presidential nomination when he was fatally shot after a campaign event in California. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most prominent figures of the movement, was shot at a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

During a recent Cabinet meeting, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—the late senator’s son, having the same name—was present as Gabbard gave an update on the ongoing review of related government records.

After taking office in January, Trump had signed an executive order to declassify a wide range of previously unreleased documents tied to major historical cases, including the death of Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, leaving the FBI rushing to redact Epstein files ahead of release.

Last month, the National Archives released over 2,000 pages of John F. Kennedy-related files, though many had already been made public. Some Epstein records were also released in February, but critics argued the administration was still withholding key information.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who was a teenager when his father was killed, said in the Cabinet meeting he was "gratified" for the release of the documents.

Release of MLK files opposed by King's family

The King family, on the other hand, is attempting to block the release of some of the files related to Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, as they "hope to be provided the opportunity to review the files as a family" before the release. 

Both of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, submitted written statements opposing the release of the sealed records. Martin Luther King III argued that the recordings, some of which were made inside the family’s home, represent a serious invasion of privacy.

Bernice King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King Jr., wrote that the release would cause "irreparable harm" to her father's legacy, "due to the history of fabricated assertions and disinformation" from then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Her brother wrote that any release would "unleash J. Edgar Hoover's deception on the public by presenting misinformation as objective historical record."

🧵It wasn’t that long ago.

On the 57th anniversary of the day he was assassinated…here are some in-color photos of my father. 🖤#MLK #KingsLastDay #thankyouMLK pic.twitter.com/uX4SqwW6PQ

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 4, 2025

MLK's family also argued that the early release of the files would be "contrary to the interests of SCLC, the King family, and the public."

In a court filing last week, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)—the civil rights organization founded and led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—argued that a 1977 court order sealing certain documents for 50 years should remain in effect, keeping the records private until January 2027. The SCLC, along with the King family, expressed concerns over the FBI's "illegal surveillance" of Dr. King and his colleagues between 1963 and his assassination. They specifically requested that wiretap recordings and transcripts from that period stay sealed until the original court-ordered deadline.

The SCLC and the King family wrote that the Trump administration's attempt to unseal the files is "without legal justification," adding that Mr. Trump "lacks the authority to compel the disclosure of any assassination records that are under a court-ordered seal, and the sealed files—which are the result of illegal incursions on SCLC's privacy interests—are much more expansive in scope than those pertaining to Dr. King's assassination."

King family warns FBI surveillance records could spread disinformation

There are allegations that the FBI was complicit in King's assassination, and a select committee conducted its own investigation. The FBI monitored Dr. King for several years through a counterintelligence program called COINTELPRO. 

The wiretaps, King III wrote, were part of an effort to discredit his father and "harm the civil rights cause that he championed."

"Some, perhaps many, of the recordings may be fake," he continued. "The FBI's purpose in creating the documents the government seeks to unseal was to misinform the public and irreparably damage our father's reputation and, most importantly, destroy the civil rights movement. Such an effort against a private citizen is unprecedented."

"We respectfully disagree that the public release of the sealed records is a benefit for our family," King III wrote, adding, "We also disagree that our family and the general public stand on equal footing with respect to illicit recordings made of our family home. Private spaces by definition exclude the public; our family's privacy deserves the same protection and respect as any other family in America."

In 1977, the Justice Department launched a task force to investigate the FBI's harassment of King, as well as his assassination. It also attempted to determine whether the FBI held any responsibility for King's assassination.