The JFK Assassination Records Act Discussion

[Paul Brancato]

19 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

I call 'em like I see 'em.  Before Jim (thankfully) put me on ignore he accused me of having a sinister "agenda" every time I disagreed with him about anything.

His apparent endorsement of Trump's candidacy over the JFK files is blinkered.

Would you care to quote a relevant passage on this thread or in the article that reads like a trump endorsement by Jim? 

[Matt Cloud]

7 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

This is the Newsweek take on the current, ongoing Trump-JFK Records discussion:

Donald Trump Confronted Over Unfulfilled Promise

Published Jun 21, 2024 at 11:53 AM EDTUpdated Jun 21, 2024 at 5:40 PM EDT

By Matthew Impelli

Writer

FOLLOW

40

Former President Donald Trump was asked this week about an unfulfilled promise he made while in office in 2017 involving the files on the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

On Thursday, Trump appeared on the All In podcast hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg, David Sacks and Jason Calacanis, to speak about an array of topics ahead of the 2024 presidential election, and was asked about his promise to release of all information relating to the 1963 assassination of JFK in Dallas.

Palihapitiya asked Trump about the release of the information, "You said the first thing or one of the things you wanted to do was release the JFK file, and then you said later 'I saw it and I just I wasn't really ready to do it.' ...I'm just curious...what happened?"

In response to the question, Trump said, "I actually did do it. I released a lot, as you know, but when it came to the whole thing, I was hit by some people that work for me, who are great people that you would respect. They asked me not to do it, and I'm saying, 'Why? Tell me why?' ""And they said, 'Sir, I think it needs a little more time.' And I released a lot, but I said, if they feel so strongly, I respect the people, and would have done that again, but this time I'm just gonna do it," Trump added.

When further pressed on whether the CIA was involved in the assassination, Trump said, "I think CIA was probably behind it."

After he was elected to the White House, Trump vowed to release all of the information relating to the assassination of JFK while in the White House.

In a post to Twitter, now X, in 2017, Trump said he was planning to release the JFK files saying that after speaking with his then-chief of staff John Kelly and the CIA, "I will be releasing ALL JFK files other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living."

"I am doing this for reasons of full disclosure, transparency, and in order to put any and all conspiracy theories to rest," Trump wrote in the post.

In October 2017, Trump released some of the files relating to JFK's assassination which included 2,800 documents, but stopped the release of other information, Reuters reported.

In 2018, the White House said that other documents would be released "on a rolling basis," including "redactions in only the rarest of circumstances," by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

Last year, Trump further spoke about the JFK files saying that he planned to release further documents if reelected in 2024.

"When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination-related documents," Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post in 2023. "It's been 60 years, time for the American people to know the TRUTH!"

Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.

 

How many of these redundant posts are you going to keep creating?  This is pathetic.  All of these by you can go into one post.  

[Paul Brancato]

The obvious question for me is when will the media ask Biden the same question? 

[Matthew Koch]

15 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

I have been wanting to do a few posts on the Machinery of Secrecy, but with a family, farm and day job....

James DiEugenio is concerned the Biden administration snuff job on the JFK Records Act is permanent. 

My understanding is that a US President or Vice President, can unilaterally declassify and publish any document within the federal government, a power held long before the JFK Records Act.  (Tax records might be exempt). 

I wonder if Merrick Garland's Transparency Board trumps the power of the Chief Executive to release documents at will?  

BC

Here is the relevant section: 

 

[W. Niederhut]

7 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Nothing restores faith in government like electing someone who plans to overthrow it.

LOL.

Honestly, I'm amazed that anyone with an IQ above room temperature would still consider a sociopathic moron like Donald Trump to be a suitable candidate for the U.S. Presidency.

By scholarly consensus, the man was the worst POTUS in American history-- an absolute disaster.

Experts rank Biden among the best presidents. Trump? Not so much - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

More than 90% of Trump's own, numerous former Cabinet officials-- including his former Vice President-- have declined to endorse him in 2024.

As for the redundant, myopic focus on the single issue of the JFK records--enough already.

How many more threads do we need?  

My original 2020 EF thread about Trump's decision to block the release the JFK records had a lot of informed, scholarly comments-- and it was banished to the JFK Deep Politics board long ago (and later moved to Political Discussions at my request.)

The JFK records are important, but the issue is a single tree in a vast forest of U.S. and world events-- catastrophic climate change, plutocracy, health, education, fascism vs. democracy, etc.

 

 

Edited Monday at 04:23 PM by W. Niederhut

[James DiEugenio]

Again, there are certain people who just do not give anything about the documents. Or that the law has been disobeyed.

I take a back seat to no one on the Insurrection. I have written more about it than anyone here.  And its on my substack board.

This is not about the Insurrection, and there was never any chance that the Insurrection was going to succeed, thanks to Pelosi, Pence and Schumer.

This is about making the issue of the declassified records one that can be debated.  If you do not give 2 cents about that, then just say that.

And after you admit it , then just stay out of it.

I want the American public to know that 61 years on, the government is still keeping secrets about the JFK case, in specific defiance of the JFK Act.

And if this issue spreads, it can go back to where it belongs, congress. And the senate.  Because it is their law that has been subverted, by two presidents.

If we can get Mark on Napolitano, hopefully that point can be brought home.

 

Edited Monday at 06:38 PM by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

Paul, when someone quotes CV I have to read his junk, which proves to me all over that he is not worth reading.

Rubbish. I would rather not vote for anyone than vote for Trump.

This is a see-through attempt to politicize a legal issue for his own personal agenda.

PS I just got a message from Mark.  He is getting closer for Napolitano.

 

Edited Monday at 06:59 PM by James DiEugenio

[Pat Speer]

51 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Again, there are certain people who just do not give anything about the documents. Or that the law has been disobeyed.

I take a back seat to no one on the Insurrection. I have written more about it than anyone here.  And its on my substack board.

This is not about the Insurrection, and there was never any chance that the Insurrection was going to succeed, thanks to Pelosi, Pence and Schumer.

This is about making the issue of the declassified records one that can be debated.  If you do not give 2 cents about that, then just say that.

And after you admit it , then just stay out of it.

I want the American public to know that 61 years on, the government is still keeping secrets about the JFK case, in specific defiance of the JFK Act.

And if this issue spreads, it can go back to where it belongs, congress. And the senate.  Because it is their law that has been subverted, by two presidents.

If we can get Mark on Napolitano, hopefully that point can be brought home.

 

Straight up question, Jim. Do you honestly believe there is anything in the remaining records that will be a game-changer? I suspect a lot of hoopla will be made if the records get released, and that the historians will then be brought in to say it's all a nothing-burger, and that the public will then lose interest, permanently. 

Like with the dog that caught the car, it will be like...uhhh...what now?

Edited Monday at 07:28 PM by Pat Speer

[W. Niederhut]

Jim,

    C'mon, man.

    We all care about the records, as most of us have stated repeatedly-- going back to 2017, when Oliver Stone said that, "Trump got rolled by the Deep State."

     The Trump cult only got interested in the JFK records later-- in the Biden era-- after Tucker Carlson's truly shocking public commentaries about the JFK records and the CIA.

     We had extensive forum discussions with you and Larry Schnapf at the time.

      And you have posted some useful, educational articles about the details of Biden's chicanery in permanently killing the JFK Records Act.  Shame on Joe Biden!

     Unfortunately, during the past year, one forum member (a J6 Insurrection Denier) has repeatedly attacked Biden for "snuffing" the records-- starting upwards of 20 redundant threads-- in an effort to frame this as a partisan wedge issue for 2024.

      The same member has also started multiple redundant threads urging forum members to vote for RFK, Jr., in order to obtain the release of the JFK records-- as if that single issue trumped all of the other major political issues at stake in 2024.

     And now, to take the proverbial cake, Trump is flip-flopping to woo voters on the issue of releasing the JFK records that he suppressed TWICE-- in 2017 and 2018.  He's now posing as an heroic Deep State adversary.

     So, yes, the release of the JFK Records has been relentlessly politicized on this forum in 2024-- by people in the Trump cult, and by people supporting RFK, Jr.

Edited Monday at 07:41 PM by W. Niederhut

[James DiEugenio]

This is the point.

There is no accurate directory to the records.

This was brought out in the Northern California court case.  And this is why the Gannon memo tries to bring in NARA as arbiter. Because they want to keep it that way.

NARA was never supposed to be an active participant in the act.  They are just a repository.

The Gannon memo did three things, it completely dismissed the record by record accounting in the JFK Act.  That allowed NARA to post, what is for many, an ersatz directory. Third, it also discounted the role of congress which was to keep tabs on the updated inventory. It sort of swapped out congress for NARA.

This is what a mockery the JFK act has been reduced to.  This is why Mark's goal is to move congress to reinstate the ARRB since he thinks that is the only way the last of the documents will ever see the light of day.

I have seen some of these documents. The combination of the redactions and the utterly horrendous conditions the papers are in is just a disgrace; you can barely read some of them. To me its the raised middle finger to the critical community.

Edited Monday at 08:05 PM by James DiEugenio

[Andrew Iler]

41 minutes ago, Pat Speer said:

I suspect a lot of hoopla will be made if the records get released, and that the historians will then be brought in to say it's all a nothing-burger, and that the public will then lose interest, permanently.

Idk Pat, the suppression of what the Bethesda autopsy staff saw and Northwoods are hardly “nothing-burgers”.  There has been a weight of evidence that has trickled out in the six decades since Dallas that has been buried by the media (i.e. the Zapruder film, Admiral Burkley’s attempt to testify, etc….) 

Sure the MSM will attempt to deflect and diminish, but the overwhelming majority of Americans still don’t buy the LN theory. Many many people have not just moved on and continue to believe that November 22, 1963 was a serious turning point for America and for the rest of the world. 

[David Boylan]

I've read lots of the "newly" released docs over the years. This is from the 2018 release and one my favorites to demonstrate that they haven't released XXXXX over the years.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=148969

Luis Angel Castillo was of interest during the Garrison investigation.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=53243#relPageId=23&search="luis_Angel"

[Pat Speer]

4 hours ago, Andrew Iler said:

Idk Pat, the suppression of what the Bethesda autopsy staff saw and Northwoods are hardly “nothing-burgers”.  There has been a weight of evidence that has trickled out in the six decades since Dallas that has been buried by the media (i.e. the Zapruder film, Admiral Burkley’s attempt to testify, etc….) 

Sure the MSM will attempt to deflect and diminish, but the overwhelming majority of Americans still don’t buy the LN theory. Many many people have not just moved on and continue to believe that November 22, 1963 was a serious turning point for America and for the rest of the world. 

My point was not that the remaining documents are nothing-burgers, but that the vast majority of the public will come to believe they are nothing burgers. 

The Northwoods documents came out what? 30 years ago? And yet how many TV shows or history textbooks even mention them? 

Now, in the long run, this stuff is important and may change the perception of what went on.

But the likelihood of a "smoking gun" that will excite the public in the immediate future is next to nothing, IMO. 

Edited Tuesday at 12:49 AM by Pat Speer

[Matt Allison]

The Joannides stuff is what I would like to see, and IMO, that issue could be used as a fulcrum with regard to those who want more releases from NARA that were originally submitted via the JFK Act.

 

40 minutes ago, Pat Speer said:

My point was not that the remaining documents are nothing-burgers, but that the vast majority of the public will come to believe they are nothing burgers. 

The Northwest documents came out what? 30 years ago? And yet how many TV shows or history textbooks even mention them? 

Now, in the long run, this stuff is important and may change the perception of what went on.

But the likelihood of a "smoking gun" that will excite the public in the immediate future is next to nothing, IMO. 

Agree.

And the idea that Donald Trump has curiosity or knowledge about this issue is absurd. He is simply casting about looking for any votes he can find, anywhere.

[Benjamin Cole]

9 hours ago, Matt Cloud said:

How many of these redundant posts are you going to keep creating?  This is pathetic.  All of these by you can go into one post.  

These are trials that EF-JFKA'ers sometimes endure.