Task force on government secrets to interview ‘witnesses’ of JFK assassination
A congressional task force focused on declassifying information maintained by the federal government hopes to interview “first-hand witnesses” of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said this week.
Luna, R-Fla., who is leading the “Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets,” said she and a group of bipartisan lawmakers will travel to Dallas, Texas, to speak with witnesses ahead of a March 26 hearing that will center on the assassination of the 35th president.
Luna has also said she hopes physicians at the hospital where the president was taken after he was fatally shot will appear at the hearing. A public website for declassified documents related to the assassination will go live “in a few days,” Luna said in a post on X.
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The task force’s actions come after President Donald Trump last months signed an executive order directing federal agencies to take swift action to begin declassifying and releasing information related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Luna has also said the task force will investigate the origins of COVID-19, unidentified flying objects and the “client list” of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department on Thursday began releasing documents related to Epstein, who has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.
Earlier this month, the FBI said it found some 2,400 new documents linked to Kennedy’s assassination. The agency said it is in the process of passing the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration. It’s unclear what revelations, if any, are contained in the newly discovered files.
Kennedy was shot in 1963 as his presidential motorcade rolled through downtown Dallas. After his death, Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, created a commission to investigate the assassination. The Warren Commission determined that gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested and later shot by a nightclub owner on live television, acted alone.
Still, the assassination has fueled intense debate and a myriad of theories challenging the conclusion of the Warren Commission. Polls have shown that many Americans believe Kennedy’s death was part of a wider conspiracy.
Many public officials also doubt the government’s stated conclusion on the assassination. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy, has previously said he believes the CIA was involved in the death of his uncle. The intelligence agency denies such allegations.
Luna said she believes there were “two shooters” and said the initial hearing held by Congress on the assassination was “faulty,” adding that there was conflicting evidence and anomalies that have not been addressed.
“In order to put to bed some of the theories that have been out there on John F. Kennedy, we have to know the full truth,” she said.
Contributing: Marc Ramirez, Michael Loria and Ray Locker, USA TODAY; Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Task force on government secrets to interview ‘witnesses’ of JFK assassination
