What will the public learn from the classified JFK files?
Assassination researchers hope to learn more about Lee Harvey Oswald and undercover CIA officer George Joannides; James Rosen takes a closer look for 'Special Report.'
President Trump announced on Twitter that the classified files on the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy will finally be released Thursday.
“The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “So interesting!”
Trump arrived Wednesday afternoon in Dallas, where he received a briefing on Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.
The move to release classified files could shed light on a tragedy that has stirred conspiracy theories for decades.
The National Archives has until Oct. 26 to disclose the remaining thousands of never-seen government documents on the 1963 assassination.
TRUMP SAYS HE INTENDS TO ALLOW RELEASE OF CLASSIFIED FILES ON KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
It's unlikely the documents contain any big revelations about Kennedy's killing, said Judge John Tunheim, who was chairman of the independent agency in the 1990s that made public many assassination records and decided how long others could remain secret.
JFK scholars believe the trove of files may provide insight into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico City weeks before the killing.
During the trip, Oswald visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies.
His stated reason for going was to get visas that would allow him to enter Cuba and the Soviet Union, according to the Warren Commission, the investigative body established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, much about the trip remains unknown.
Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassination documents be released within 25 years, unless the president asserts that doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations. The still-secret documents include more than 3,000 that have never been seen by the public and more than 30,000 that have been released previously, but with redactions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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