JFK files release: US declassifies majority of documents on assassination that has haunted America for over 50 years

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Donald Trump has ordered the release of 2,800 files relating to the assassination of John F Kennedy, but agreed to withhold hundreds of documents the US intelligence community still deems sensitive more than 50 years after the incident. Asked if Mr Trump was angry that he had been unable to fulfil his undertaking to release all the material - some had suggested the delay was a deliberate snub from the intelligence community after repeated clashes between the President and senior officials in various agencies - a senior government official, speaking on background, told reporters: “The President wants to ensure full transparency and he thinks the agencies can do a better job at reducing any conflict within the redaction and get this information out as quickly as possible.” Shortly after the government officials spoke, the White House issued a memorandum from the President that said the “American public expects - and deserves - its government to provide as much access as possible to the President John F Kennedy Assassination Records so that the people may finally be fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event”. I have no choice - today - but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our nation's security.” The assassination of Kennedy, as he toured Dallas with the First Lady, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, remains one of the most iconic and controversial moments in modern US history. “Clearly there are documents, plural, files, plural, being appealed to him,” University of Virginia historian Larry Sabato, an authority on Kennedy, said of the pressure on Mr Trump.