The Trump administration has released over 240,000 pages of FBI documents related to the surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., NaijNaira can report.
The Korea Herald reported that the files, sealed since 1977, detail decades of surveillance conducted by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, including wiretaps and informant reports.
Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, the civil rights leader’s surviving children, criticized the release, calling it a deeply personal matter tied to ongoing grief.
They urged readers to consider the full historical context, saying, “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect.”
The newly unsealed records include leads on King’s assassination and CIA notes on his shift to global anti-war and anti-poverty causes in the years before his death.
The siblings reiterated their belief that James Earl Ray was not the sole actor in their father’s killing, referencing a 1999 jury finding of a broader conspiracy.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called the disclosure “unprecedented” and credited Trump for driving transparency during his second term.
Alveda King, MLK’s niece and Trump supporter, backed the decision, saying she was “grateful to President Trump” for pushing the release forward.
Civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton, however, dismissed the move as political deflection amid backlash over Trump’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s sealed records.
The King Center stated, “This is ill-timed, given the real crises facing America and the world, which Dr. King fought to resolve.”
Scholars and journalists had expected the files to remain sealed until 2027, but the Justice Department sought early disclosure from a federal judge.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference opposed the release, arguing the FBI illegally targeted King and other civil rights activists to undermine the movement.
Documents confirm a long-running campaign by Hoover’s FBI to monitor and discredit King through phone taps, surveillance, and smear tactics.
“The intent was not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle and destroy Dr. King’s reputation,” the King children said.
They said they support transparency, but warned against any misuse of their father’s legacy for political or personal agendas.
King was killed in Memphis in 1968 while supporting a sanitation workers’ strike — part of his move toward economic justice and anti-war activism.
Though Ray pled guilty in 1969, he later denied involvement until his death. The King family has long maintained he was set up as a scapegoat.
The Justice Department reaffirmed Ray’s guilt in 2000, but the 1999 civil trial supported the family’s theory of a conspiracy involving other parties.
“We will assess whether these files contain anything that changes what we already know,” the family said in closing.
Article updated 7 hours ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
