In the wake of his re-election, President Donald Trump has the opportunity to fulfill a promise he made during his campaign: the establishment of a commission to investigate the assassinations of President John F.
Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the attempted assassination on Trump himself in Butler, Pennsylvania.
These historical events, each shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions, could finally find resolution through an independent investigative commission.
According to the Daily Caller, the proposed commission should be granted the authority to issue subpoenas for documents and depositions, and to consult experts on both sides of any competing issue. The ultimate goal would be to produce a comprehensive report on all three assassination attempts, akin to the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978. Notably, this committee concluded that President Kennedy was "probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy."
The commission should also be tasked with continuing the work of the Assassination Records Review Board, compelling government agencies still holding classified files to either declassify them or provide a legal basis for their continued classification. Despite both President Trump and President Biden releasing thousands of documents during their administrations, neither fully complied with the JFK Records Act. Passed in 1992 following Oliver Stones film about the assassination, the Act mandates specific rules and timelines for releasing the still classified documents from JFKs murder over 60 years ago.
In 2017, President Trump deferred the document releases beyond their due date, relying on legally questionable memoranda written by the Justice Department. Later, President Biden furthered the DOJs delaying tactics, essentially deferring the decision of whether to release documents to the agencies that hold them, including the Central Intelligence Agency. This has resulted in the JFK Records Act being largely ignored by the executive branch. The formation of a new commission could reverse this trend.
The persistence of conspiracy theories surrounding these events is hardly surprising given the lack of transparency. For the American people to have faith in their institutions, especially intelligence agencies, these matters need to be definitively resolved. The government's stance that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in JFK's assassination raises questions as to why any government documents related to President Kennedys death would still be classified 61 years later. To many observers, the continued classification of these documents implies that the intelligence agencies have something to hide.
The same logic applies to the RFK assassination and the Butler attempt on Trump, both purportedly carried out by lone gunmen. Any information that government agencies have related to these attempts should also be brought to light by this commission.
President Trump should prioritize the creation of this new commission during the first year of his administration. The potential outcomes could range from debunking conspiracy theories and restoring faith in government, to uncovering government or third-party wrongdoing and ensuring the appropriate punishment. The truth will only be revealed once all available facts are reviewed, and the remaining classified records are obtained.
There is a significant amount of evidence suggesting that the official narratives surrounding these cases, particularly the JFK assassination, may be incorrect. The formation of a commission is a necessary step towards uncovering the truth about what really happened in Dealey Plaza, at the Ambassador Hotel, and in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Matt Crumpton, host of the Solving JFK podcast and co-author of The JFK Assassination Chokeholds, is a strong advocate for the establishment of such a commission. His work, along with that of co-authors James DiEugenio, Paul Bleau, Andrew Iler, and Mark Adamczyk, delves into the arguments surrounding the JFK Assassination, further highlighting the need for a comprehensive investigation.
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