(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, right, and Bishop Julian Smith, left, flank Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during a civil rights march in Memphis, Tenn., March 28, 1968. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, File)
(AP) The Trump administration has released records of the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination.
The release involves an estimated 200,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
King’s family, including his two living children, Martin III and Bernice, were given advance notice of the release and had their own teams reviewing the records.
Newly released documents contain FBI leads and CIA information relating to MLK Jr.
Among the documents are leads the FBI received after King’s assassination and details of the CIA’s fixation on King’s pivot to international anti-war and anti-poverty movements in the years before he was killed.
It was not immediately clear whether the documents shed new light on King’s life, the Civil Rights Movement or his murder.
King’s family got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access.
Family says MLK Jr. was ‘relentlessly targeted’ by FBI ‘surveillance campaign’
In their statement, King’s two living children said their father was subject to “an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing” operation at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover.
They say the campaign was intended “not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle and destroy” both King and the movement he led, calling the actions “designed to neutralize those who dared to challenge the status quo.”
Sharpton calls release of King files ‘a desperate attempt to distract’ from Epstein files
The Rev. Al Sharpton says the president released the King files to divert attention from “the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the MAGA base.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asked Friday for the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the prosecutions of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend.
The request that comes as the administration seeks to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would.
Trump pledged to release JFK and RFK files – and has
During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump promised to release files related to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination.
When Trump took office in January, he signed an executive order to declassify the JFK records, along with those associated with Robert F. Kennedy’s and King’s 1968 assassinations.
The government unsealed the JFK records in March and disclosed some RFK files in April.
King’s niece applauds release of FBI files
In a statement released by Gabbard’s office, Alveda King said she was grateful to Trump and the intelligence director “for delivering on their pledge of transparency” in making the documents public.
Alveda King has been a supporter of Trump since his first run for the White House.
In 2017, she was among those accompanying him to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Trump in 2018 nominated her to the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission.
Gabbard says MLK files include FBI probe, case progress memos
In a social media post announcing the records release, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says that the 230,000 files include details about potential leads in the case and information from James Earl Ray’s former cellmate.
Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King. He later renounced that plea and maintained his innocence until his death in 1998.
Gabbard also included a link to the released documents on the National Archives and Records Administration website.
MLK Jr. records had been intended to stay sealed until 2027
Earlier this year, Justice Department attorneys asked a federal judge to lift the sealing order ahead of its expiration date.
In addition to King’s family, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — which King co-founded in 1957 — opposed their release, arguing that the FBI illegally surveilled King and other civil rights figures, tapping their offices and phone lines with the aim of discrediting them and their movement.
Scholars, history buffs and journalists have been preparing to study the documents to find new information about King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
It has long been established that then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was intensely interested in King and others he considered radicals. Previously released FBI records show how Hoover’s bureau wiretapped King’s telephone lines, bugged his hotel rooms and used informants to get information against him.
MLK Jr.‘s family urges files be viewed with ‘empathy’ and ‘full historical context’
King’s family, including his two living children, Martin III and Bernice, were given advance notice of the release and had their own teams reviewing the records ahead of the public disclosure.
In a lengthy statement, the two living King children called their father’s case a “captivating public curiosity for decades” but called for “empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.”
The pair emphasized the personal nature of the matter, urging that “these files must be viewed within their full historical context.”
Trump administration releases the FBI’s MLK Jr. file
The records of the FBI’s surveillance of the slain Nobel laureate were released over opposition from his family and the civil rights group that King led until his 1968 assassination.
The release involves an estimated 200,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977. That’s when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
King’s family, including his two living children, Martin III and Bernice, were given advance notice of the release and had their own teams reviewing the records ahead of the public disclosure.