WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has released over 240,000 pages of previously sealed FBI records detailing the government’s surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., despite objections from his family and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
The documents, held under court seal since 1977, are now publicly available through the National Archives. The records include FBI reports, intelligence leads, and communications that span years of government monitoring of King’s civil rights activism and private life.
The move has reignited longstanding debates over King’s legacy, government overreach, and the motives behind the release. In a joint statement, King’s surviving children, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King expressed concern over the timing and purpose of the release. While they acknowledged public interest in their father’s life and death, they emphasized that the material should be read “in full historical context” and not weaponized for political gain or sensationalism.
The newly released files reportedly contain information about the FBI’s efforts to undermine King, including bugging hotel rooms, tapping phone lines, and planting informants in his inner circle. These efforts were orchestrated mainly under the direction of then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who viewed King as a subversive threat. The documents also include leads pursued after King’s assassination in 1968 and the CIA’s growing concern over King’s pivot to global anti-war and anti-poverty campaigns.
Notably, the files offer no conclusive new evidence about the assassination itself. James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to murdering King but later recanted, remains the official perpetrator. However, the King family has consistently questioned this narrative. In 1999, a civil jury sided with the family, concluding that King was the victim of a broader conspiracy. Bernice and Martin III reaffirmed that belief in their latest statement, insisting Ray was a scapegoat.
The release of the King files follows similar actions taken earlier in the year under Trump’s directive, which included partial disclosures of records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Tulsi Gabbard, then Director of National Intelligence, described the MLK document release as “unprecedented transparency” and praised Trump for fulfilling his campaign promise to declassify key historical files.
However, critics argue that the move is politically motivated. Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton called it a distraction tactic, accusing Trump of using the King files to divert attention from his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Trump recently ordered limited disclosures of Epstein-related records, stopping short of unsealing the full case file, which has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum.
Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and a vocal Trump supporter, publicly backed the release, thanking the president for “his transparency.” Her comments, however, stood in contrast to the views of King’s children and the SCLC. The civil rights group condemned the release, calling it an extension of the FBI’s original campaign to discredit King and the movement he led.
The King Center, founded by Coretta Scott King and now headed by Bernice King, also criticized the timing of the release. In a separate statement, the Center said the move obscured both historical and contemporary struggles for racial justice.
Originally scheduled to remain sealed until 2027, the documents were made public early after a request from the Justice Department. Historians, researchers, and journalists have already begun examining the trove for new insights into King’s final years and the federal government’s campaign to surveil and undermine civil rights leaders.
The King family concluded their statement by emphasizing their commitment to truth and historical accountability but warned against any effort to distort their father’s legacy. They reiterated their call for a more honest reckoning with the forces behind his assassination and the enduring impact of state surveillance on Black leaders.
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