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BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard Releases Over 230K MLK Jr. Assassination Files

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Boom! Another promise kept…

Today, DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced the release of over 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The files were dropped in connection with President Trump’s Executive Order 14176, which demanded the release of the MLK Jr., RFK, and JFK assassination files.

Check out Tulsi’s announcement on X:

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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 archives.gov/mlk. 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.

Thanks to President @realDonaldTrump’s leadership, Executive Order 14176 resulted in three, unprecedented interagency efforts to identify, digitize, declassify and release files related to the federal government’s investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. King.

The files include newly-declassified documents from the CIA and FBI related to the investigation of MLK Jr’s assassination.

You can read all of them for yourself by clicking here.

Grok provided a breakdown of some of the key findings in these records:

  • FBI’s Surveillance and COINTELPRO Operations:
    • The documents confirm the FBI’s extensive surveillance of Dr. King under its COINTELPRO program, which labeled him a “Black Messiah” threat due to his civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activism.
    • FBI memos reveal coordinated efforts to destabilize King, including attempts to drive him to suicide through blackmail, such as threats to expose alleged personal affairs.
    • The records highlight the intensity of the FBI’s operations, which went beyond surveillance to include psychological warfare tactics aimed at discrediting King.
  • Details on James Earl Ray and the Assassination:
    • The files reaffirm the official finding that James Earl Ray fired a single shot from a rifle at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, killing Dr. King from a bathroom window at 422 1/2 South Main Street.
    • Canadian intelligence documents indicate Ray’s movements through Toronto, where he was involved with a passport forgery ring, providing context for his activities before and after the assassination.
    • Some records question the “lone gunman” narrative, with suggestions that Ray may have been a patsy or part of a broader operation, though these claims remain inconclusive without definitive evidence.
  • Allegations of Government Involvement:
    • The documents address allegations of government complicity, particularly involving the FBI, Memphis Police Department, and Missouri State Penitentiary (from which Ray escaped in 1967). The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) found no evidence of direct government involvement in the assassination.
    • Specific claims, such as the FBI or Memphis police setting up King at the Lorraine Motel or removing security (e.g., Detective Edward Redditt or firemen transfers), were investigated and deemed unfounded by the HSCA.
    • Despite these findings, the 1999 civil trial brought by the King family concluded that government agencies were liable in a conspiracy, fueling ongoing public skepticism.
  • Memphis Police and FBI Operations on the Day of the Assassination:
    • The files detail a joint FBI-Memphis police operation on the scene on April 4, 1968, though Ray evaded detection despite the presence of law enforcement, raising questions about operational failures.
    • Tactical units near the Lorraine Motel were pulled back at the request of someone in King’s party, and officers like Patrolman Richmond and undercover officer Marrell McCullough were present but did not observe Ray’s escape.
  • Additional Contextual Details:
    • The release includes FBI memos, notes, and other records that were digitized for the first time, offering researchers access to previously restricted materials.
    • The King family was granted early access to the files two weeks before the public release, indicating their involvement in reviewing the documents.
    • Allegations from sources like King family lawyer William Pepper suggest a coordinated effort involving the FBI, Mafia, Memphis police (including Chief Frank Holloman and officer Frank Strausser), and military intelligence, with Jesse Jackson implicated as an “inside man.” These claims are not substantiated in the official National Archives records but reflect ongoing speculation.

King Jr.’s two surviving children released a statement following the release of the files:

Full text of their statement:

“We recognize that the release of documents concerning the assassination of our father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has long been a subject of interest, captivating public curiosity for decades. As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief – a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met – an absence our family has endured for over 57 years. We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.

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The release of these files must 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).  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. These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth – undermining the dignity and freedoms of private citizens who fought for justice, designed to neutralize those who dared to challenge the status quo.

In 1999, our family filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit in Shelby County, Tennessee. The jury unanimously concluded that our father was the victim of a conspiracy involving Loyd Jowers and unnamed co-conspirators, including government agencies as a part of a wider scheme. The verdict also affirmed that someone other than James Earl Ray was the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. Our family views that verdict as an affirmation of our long-held beliefs.  As we review these newly released files, we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted.

While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods. We strongly condemn any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy and the significant achievements of the movement. Those who promote the fruit of the FBI’s surveillance will unknowingly align themselves with an ongoing campaign to degrade our father and the Civil Rights Movement.

Instead of repeating the injustices of the past, we encourage the public to continue the work that our father began – building equity, justice, and peace for all. Now more than ever, we must honor his sacrifice by committing ourselves to the realization of his dream – a society rooted in compassion, unity, and equality.

Let us move forward together, inspired by our father’s enduring vision of the Beloved Community – a world made possible when we choose to center love in all that we do. By embracing compassion, mutual respect, and justice, we can transform his dream into our shared reality.”

– Martin Luther King III and Dr. Bernice A. King

Please note that the King Family will not be conducting any interviews on this matter at this time.

His family has always been skeptical about the official narrative on his death, believing that James Earl Jones was not the sole actor.

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AP noted:

King was assassinated as he was aiding striking sanitation workers in Memphis, part of his explicit turn toward economic justice.

Ray plead guilty to assassinating King. He later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998.

Members of King’s family, and others, have long questioned whether Ray acted alone, or if he was even involved. Coretta Scott King asked for the probe to be reopened, and in 1998, then-Attorney General Janet Reno directed the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department to take a new look. The Justice Department said it “found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr. King.”

In their latest statement, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III repeated their assertions that Ray was set up, pointing to a 1999 civil case in which a Memphis jury in a wrongful death case concluded that Martin Luther King Jr. had been the target of a conspiracy.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna says that a full MLK hearing is in the works:

All in all, most Americans people are happy about the release and transparency on the MLK Jr. case, though many of us still wish they’d do the same with the Epstein files…

Here’s how folks are responding on X:

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