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- The president's skeleton in the closet: why Trump wants to declassify JFK assassination documents
The president's skeleton in the closet: why Trump wants to declassify JFK assassination documents
No event in American political history compares to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in terms of the number of investigations, books and articles published on the subject. The story of the removal of one of the most respected U.S. presidents is still relevant and therefore is regularly used for political purposes. Even before his election for a second term, Donald Trump said that he would declassify the rest of the documents and create a new independent commission to investigate what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas. The future appointment of the slain president's nephew, Robert Kennedy, to the administration added weight to these statements. What information may be hidden in the archives of the American intelligence services and whether its disclosure will help in discovering the truth, "Izvestia" analyzed.
Statement in Glendale
On August 24, at Trump's campaign rally in Arizona, Robert Kennedy Jr, who three days earlier had suspended his participation in the presidential race, officially announced his support for the Republican nominee. To applause from the audience, he took the stage and spoke about the promise Trump made to him to "end the influence of neoconservatives in American foreign policy." In his response, the presidential candidate said that once elected, he would set up an independent commission to investigate the assassination of America's 35th head of state, the uncle of his running mate, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Kennedy's nomination and subsequent alliance with Trump is also highly symbolic. Both have for several years promoted an anti-system and anti-elitist agenda of fighting the "deep state" that is incredibly popular among Trumpists. For this reason, the nominal Democrat Kennedy Jr. has long been considered a spoiler candidate precisely for the Republican Trump, assessing him as a "softer" and more politically correct version of his "immoral" and "evil" rival. As a result, their union not only matched Trump's presidential ambitions, but also seemed quite natural, created on the basis of "shared values," as the future president himself said.
After Trump's election, Kennedy Jr. Kennedy, who had long fought against Big Pharma and openly opposed government health care policies (most notably the Biden administration's vaccine and anti-COV measures), was nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.
But Trump and Kennedy share more than just animosity toward the financial and political elites they believe are complicit in the pandemic, the forced and dangerous vaccination of the population, and more. Both, judging by their statements, want to and will continue to prove the role of the "deep state" in the loud and mysterious events of the American past.
Meanwhile, nothing more loud and mysterious than the assassination of John F. Kennedy exists in the United States, if we believe the polls. 65% of Americans believe that besides the only official suspect Lee Harvey Oswald, "other people" were involved in the crime, and among Republicans this figure reaches 71%. 20% of respondents believe that these others were the federal government, and 16% are convinced that the CIA was involved in the case.
A photo of President John F. Kennedy and flowers on a plaque at Dealey Plaza in Dallas
At the same time, Kennedy is in the top five in all popularity ratings among American presidents, being the most popular Democrat - head of state in American history among the Republican electorate.
In mid-December, it was reported that Kennedy Jr. promotes his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox-Kennedy to the post of first deputy director of the CIA (John Ratcliffe was nominated as head of the department). Reportedly, the politician is convinced that having experience of intelligence work in the CIA, she will help to prove the involvement of the intelligence agency in the assassination of the president.
This plot will fit perfectly into the overall strategy of deep cleansing of the U.S. intelligence agencies, which the team of the president-elect intends to implement, notes political scientist and Americanist Malek Dudakov.
- For Robert Kennedy, this is also probably the most important family issue. But I think that despite the fact that the assassination of John F. Kennedy is the most popular conspiracy case, it is also the most topical. The Trump administration, however, will be busy with a host of other far more urgent and important matters, including reforming America's special services system. Many people in America would not refuse if documents were published that refute the official version," the Izvestia interlocutor points out.
Meanwhile, in an interview in June, Trump publicly promised to declassify the remaining documents on the "shots in Dallas" and, at the same time, on the events of September 11. It should be noted that most of the materials were de-classified during his first term. However, not all the American public, including media personalities, is convinced that this happened because of Mike Pompeo, then CIA Director and later Secretary of State in the Trump administration. As Tucker Carlson said on this occasion, Pompeo convinced the president that releasing the remaining documents would be a "disaster" for his department. For example, the transcript of the interrogation of former CIA chief Richard Helms breaks off at the words, "Is there any information related to the JFK assassination case that in any way proves that Oswald was in any way a CIA agent or agent...".
However, according to Anastasia Bunina, junior researcher at the Primakov Center for North American Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences' IMEMO, there is little chance that the data that has not yet been declassified will contain anything sensational.
- Kennedy's assassination is one of the most important events in American political history and one of the most famous mysteries, which has given rise to many different conspiracy theories. Among Republicans, there are significantly more of those who believe there is something wrong with the Warren Report. And such views are in line with the general trend of citizens' loss of confidence in the federal government, as well as the line that Trump is bending - that he is willing to give the public "the truth that has been kept from them." I believe he will fulfill the promises he has made and declassify the remaining documents. That said, I believe Americans will ultimately be disappointed when the classified data is released. First of all, the documents that were dangerous have probably already been destroyed, and there is hardly any sensation hidden in all the others," the expert believes.
Whoever it was, the CIA
The official conclusion of the Warren Commission's investigation has satisfied few. At the moment, there are at least six versions of Kennedy's assassination, but most of them point to the involvement of American intelligence agencies. Themost famous is the "Cuban version," or revenge of the "deep state" (according to another - the Mafia) for Kennedy's refusal to intervene militarily in Cuba and his plans to restructure the CIA after the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation (or in the case of the Mafia - refusal to return to it the assets lost to it as a result of the socialist revolution), recalls Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the United States and Canada.
Lee Harvey Oswald is taken into custody shortly after his arrest for the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963
- All the strings in this version lead to James Engleton, deputy director of Allen Dulles (former head of Central Intelligence. - Ed.). It was this man who led the operation in Dallas, and before it - supervised the failed project to overthrow Fidel Castro. It is believed that these "Cuban shooters" were the perpetrators of the assassination. The decision was made by the Eisenhower-Dulles group (it is also often reported that Vice President Lyndon Johnson was involved in this group. - Ed.), who were extremely dissatisfied with both domestic and foreign policy Kennedy, and at the same time - and his behavior. In addition, representatives of the Secret Service were also involved in the operation," Vasiliev comments.
If we consider this story to be true, then the elimination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby two days after his arrest was necessary to prevent the suspect from turning in his associates, says Vladimir Vasiliev.
- Oswald should have been killed in custody. Moreover, there were at least two shooters, and Oswald knew them and could describe them. The official report states that there is no direct indication that Oswald was the shooter (the powder marks on his body did not match the rifle marks. - Ed.). Thus, Oswald, being a CIA agent, was on the hit team, but up to a certain point he was sure that this status would save him. When he realized that it would not, he began to testify, and after that he was taken out. By the end of November, none of the perpetrators were alive," the expert recalls.
Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald, November 24, 1963
Thus, the version of "deep state" involvement in one or another of its variations remains the most popular, says Malek Dudakov.
- If we now ask Americans about who exactly, in their opinion, killed Kennedy, I think half of them will speak in favor of the intelligence services, while the other half will insist on the version of the Italian mafia, which has not forgiven Kennedy's refusal to help solve the Cuban issue in return for financing the election campaign. I believe that it could actually be about the CIA apparatchiks, the Cuban diaspora, and the mafia," concludes the Izvestia interlocutor.
