The National Archives released on Wednesday a second tranche of documents related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, though the documents are unlikely to change scholars’ views of his murder.
The release of 60,000 additional documents was announced by Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence.
“After the initial release of 10,000 documents three weeks ago, we searched F.B.I. and C.I.A. warehouses for any records not previously turned over to The National Archives,” Ms. Gabbard wrote on social media. “More than 60,000 documents were discovered, declassified, and digitized for public viewing. Today’s release is an important step toward maximum transparency, finding the truth, and sharing the truth.”
Ms. Gabbard’s office said the new batch of documents included transcripts of police interviews with Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of killing Mr. Kennedy. Many of the documents had previously been released.
The first tranche of documents included letters from many members of the public advancing various conspiracy theories. Some were heartfelt condolences from world leaders. Others raised questions about the circumstances of the assassination.
Some were concerned about the rights of Mr. Sirhan, others the circumstances of his background as a Palestinian. And one person had, with no evidence, a theory that Robert Kennedy actually died at Chappaquiddick.
Ms. Gabbard’s office said the new documents included documents with “rumors circulating on foreign soil that Senator Kennedy had been shot one month prior to his true assassination date.”
It will take scholars weeks, if not months, to go through the pages, but expectations are low that anything useful will be found.
“We have always known who assassinated R.F.K., because he was shot in front of a lot of people,” Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, an independent research center at George Washington University, said in an interview after the first tranche was released. “So this collection can’t be expected to change that history.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services and Senator Kennedy’s son, has pushed for the releases. Mr. Kennedy has pushed alternative theories and has said that he does not believe Mr. Sirhan killed his father.
Mr. Sirhan pleaded guilty to killing the senator while he was campaigning for president, though he said he had no memory of shooting him. He said he wanted to kill Mr. Kennedy because of his support for Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/us/politics/rfk-files-released-national-archives.html
