The following is a press release witten by the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

Release marks new “business as usual” for identifying, digitizing, reviewing, and releasing files at the National Archives 

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Martin Luther King, Jr. (detail) by Jack Lewis Hiller, 1960, Gelatin silver print, used with permission of the National Portrait Gallery , Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jack Lewis Hiller.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2025 – The National Archives and Records Administration coordinated with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and other federal agencies —including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Department of State—to identify, digitize, review and release more than 230,000 pages of records related to the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This historic release occurred on Monday, July 21, 2025 and was done in accordance with Executive Order 14176, Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., signed by President Donald Trump on January 23, 2025. 

The Acting Archivist of the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said: “Today’s record release marks a historic step in the Trump Administration’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability. Preserving, protecting, and releasing the records of the U.S. government is at the core of NARA’s mission. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and a coordinated interagency process, NARA was able to review and release the records at an unprecedented speed.”


The National Archives began releasing records related to the tragic assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in March 2025. These releases have been among the largest in the history of the National Archives, and are the result of around-the-clock work of archival staff and the web services team in coordination with an interagency group led by the ODNI. 

Across these three releases, the National Archives published in five months what would usually take more than two years. This process has highlighted NARA’s capacity when the agency is streamlined and prioritizing records digitization, reviews and releases. NARA is now implementing operational process changes across the agency to continue to post newly-released records at an accelerated pace. 

This Monday’s release includes FBI records related to the investigation into the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (codename: MURKIN), records that the CIA deemed responsive to E.O. 14176, as well as State Department records concerning the extradition of James Earl Ray from the United Kingdom. 

In accordance with the National Archives’ statutory role as the final repository of the records of the United States federal government, these records are now available to the American people at https://archives.gov/mlk.

While some of these documents were made public through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in the past, this release marks the first time these records are posted online in one place with minimal redactions at https://archives.gov/mlk.