US releases thousands of classified RFK assassination documents

Shafaq News/ The US government on Friday released nearly 10,000 previously classified pages related to the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, shedding new light on the mindset of his killer.

The files include chilling handwritten notes from convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan, in which he repeatedly wrote variations of “RFK must die” and “RFK must be disposed of like his brother was” — a reference to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. One note scrawled across an envelope, described the act as an “unshakable obsession.”

The trove, posted online by the National Archives and Records Administration, is part of a broader transparency effort ordered by President Donald Trump shortly after beginning his second term. The release follows the disclosure of unredacted documents last month related to JFK’s assassination, which, while offering deeper insight into Cold War-era intelligence operations, did not substantiate long-standing conspiracy theories.

Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant, shot Kennedy on June 5, 1968, moments after the senator delivered a victory speech following his win in the California Democratic primary. Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and remains incarcerated in California.

The newly released documents include FBI memos, crime scene photos, correspondence from the public, and interviews with Sirhan’s classmates, neighbors, and coworkers. While some described him as “friendly and generous,” others portrayed a politically driven and impressionable young man who briefly embraced mysticism and supported communist regimes.

In one account, Sirhan told a Black garbage collector, who had expressed support for Kennedy, “Well, I don’t agree. I am planning on shooting the son of a bitch,” shortly after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in April 1968.

Other files reference rumors that Kennedy would be assassinated, including accounts from American tourists who claimed to have heard such predictions while visiting Israel weeks before the shooting.

Sirhan’s legal team has long argued that he poses no threat to society. In 2021, a parole board deemed him eligible for release, but California Governor Gavin Newsom rejected the decision in 2022. A different panel denied parole again in 2023, citing Sirhan’s continued lack of insight into his crime.

The late senator’s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now serving as Health and Human Services Secretary, welcomed the release, praising President Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for their “courage” and “dogged efforts.”

“Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,” Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.