Things to know about the release of federal documents related to MLK’s assassination

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS Tenn AP Federal records related to the review into the assassination of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr have been disclosed following the disclosure in March of tens of thousands of documents about the assassination of President John F Kennedy In January President Donald Trump ordered the release of thousands of classified governmental documents about Kennedy s assassination while also moving to declassify federal records related to the deaths of New York Sen Robert F Kennedy and King more than five decades ago Trump ordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Attorney General Pam Bondi to coordinate with other leadership leaders to review records related to the assassinations of RFK and King and present a plan to the Republican president for their complete release A few pages of records about the RFK assassination were disclosed April Justice Department attorneys questioned a federal judge to end a sealing order for the records nearly two years ahead of its expiration date The Southern Christian Leadership Conference which King led is opposed to unsealing any of the records for privacy reasons The organization s lawyers disclosed King s relatives also required to keep the files under seal FILE Demonstrators walk to the courthouse behind the Rev Martin Luther King Jr in Montgomery Ala March to protest healing of demonstrators by police during an attempted march AP Photo File Scholars history buffs and journalists have been preparing to inquiry the documents to find new information about the civil rights leader s April assassination in Memphis Tennessee The King family s message published after Trump s order in January announced the family hoped to get an opportunity to review the files before their society release King s family including his two living children Martin III and Bernice was given advance notice of Monday s release and had its own teams reviewing the records ahead of the general disclosure In a message Monday King s children called their father s development a captivating citizens curiosity for decades But they emphasized the personal nature of the matter and urged these files must be viewed within their full historical context 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 the message disclosed Here s what we know about the assassination and what scholars had to say ahead of the release of the documents In Memphis shots ring out FILE Rev Martin Luther King Jr walks across the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis April AP Photo Charles Kelly File King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel heading to dinner with friends when he was shot and killed King had been in Memphis to patronage a sanitation workers strike protesting poor working conditions and low pay The night before the assassination King delivered the famous Mountaintop speech on a stormy night at the Mason Temple in Memphis An earlier march on Beale Street had turned violent and King had returned to Memphis to lead another march as an expression of nonviolent protest King also had been planning the Poor People s Campaign to speak against economic injustice The FBI s research After a long manhunt James Earl Ray was captured in London and he pleaded guilty to assassinating King He later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in FBI documents distributed over the years show how the bureau wiretapped King s telephone lines bugged his hotel rooms and used informants to get information against him He was relentlessly targeted by an invasive predatory and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign the King family disclosed King family s response to the scrutiny Members of King s family and others have questioned whether Ray acted alone or if he was even involved King s widow Coretta Scott King solicited for the probe to be reopened and in then-Attorney General Janet Reno directed the Civil Rights Division of the U S Justice Department to do so The Justice Department disclosed it determined nothing to disturb the judicial determination that James Earl Ray murdered Dr King Dexter King one of King s children met with Ray in prison in saying afterwards he presumed Ray s alleges of innocence Dexter King died in With the sponsorship of King s family a civil trial in state court was held in Memphis in against Loyd Jowers a man alleged to have known about a conspiracy to assassinate King Dozens of observers testified and a Memphis jury exposed Jowers and unnamed others including authorities agencies participated in a conspiracy to assassinate King Jowers died in What will the masses see in the newly circulated documents It s unclear what the records will show King scholars for example would like to see what information the FBI was discussing and circulating as part of its review mentioned Ryan Jones director of history interpretation and curatorial services at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Related Articles US stocks hang around their records as GM and others show how tariffs are impacting them Coca-Cola confirms a cane-sugar version of its trademark cola is coming to the US this fall Justice Department wants to interview Jeffrey Epstein s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell Can you ever expect privacy in residents Coldplay kiss camera saga tells us a lot about the answer San Francisco to ban homeless people from living in RVs with new parking limit That s critical given the fact the American community at that time was unaware that the FBI that is involved in the research was leading a smear campaign to discredit the same man while he was alive Jones noted They were the same bureau who was receiving notices of assassination attempts against King and ignored them Academics who ve studied King also would like to see information about the FBI s surveillance of King including the extent it went to get details about his personal life track him and try to discredit him as anti-American reported Lerone A Martin director of the Martin Luther King Jr Research and Teaching Institute at Stanford University However Martin declared he doesn t expect the documents will have a smoking gun that will decisively say See this is evidence that the FBI was involved in this assassination We have to view these documents with an eye of suspicion because of the extent the FBI was willing to go to to try to discredit him Martin noted Why now Trump s order about the records release noted it s in the national interest to release the records Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth the order declared However the timing has led to skepticism from chosen observers Jones questioned why the American masses hadn t been able to see these documents much earlier Why were they sealed on the basis of national guard if the assassin was in prison outside of Nashville he commented Jones disclosed there are scholars who think the records release is a PR stunt by a presidential administration that s rewriting omitting the advances of certain people that are tied to people of color or diversity The Pentagon has faced questions from lawmakers and citizens over the removal of military heroes and historic mentions from Defense Department websites and social media pages after it purged online content that promoted women or minorities In response the department restored various of those posts Martin noted Trump s motivation could be part of an effort to shed doubt on executive institutions It could be an opportunity for the Trump administration to say See the FBI is evil I ve been trying to tell you this This is why I ve put FBI Director Kash Patel in office because he s cleaning out the Deep State Martin disclosed Another factor could be the two attempts on Trump s life as he was campaigning for a second presidential term and a desire to expose the broader history of U S assassinations declared Brian Kwoba an associate history professor at the University of Memphis That disclosed it is still a little bit confusing because it s not clear why any U S president including Trump would want to open up files that could be damaging to the United States and its image both in the U S and abroad he noted