More than 240,000 pages of FBI documents related to the assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have been released, despite opposition from his family.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump authorized the declassification of the files, which detail FBI surveillance of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the period leading up to his assassination in 1968, according to the BBC.
The documents had been sealed under a 1977 court order after the FBI collected extensive information and submitted it to the National Archives.
The release comes as Trump faces criticism over his handling of sensitive information tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Recent scrutiny of Trump’s personal connection with Epstein has reignited public interest and pressure around government transparency.
Despite their opposition, members of the King family—including his children Martin Luther King III and Bernice King—reviewed the documents before their public release.
Trump had previously pledged, during his first presidential campaign, to declassify key documents surrounding high-profile assassinations, including those of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. In January 2025, he fully declassified all remaining documents from these cases.
Historians and journalists have already begun combing through the newly released files for fresh insights into King’s assassination and the FBI’s activities at the time.
The King family has long argued that the FBI unlawfully surveilled Dr. King and other civil rights leaders, including through wiretapping and room monitoring. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover saw King and similar activists as radical threats.
It had previously been confirmed that Hoover authorized wiretaps on King’s home and the hotel rooms where he stayed.
James Earl Ray had pled guilty to assassinating King but later recanted and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998.
