JFK’s Grandson Has a Problem With Trump’s Conspiracy Agenda
Jack Schlossberg criticized President Trump’s order to release redacted files about his grandfather’s assassination.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
John F. Kennedy’s grandson took issue with Donald Trump’s decision to declassify the remaining redacted files on his grandfather’s assassination, describing the president as no hero.
Jack Schlossberg, the 32-year-old son of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, is known for his bizarre social media posts, but the Kennedy heir struck a more serious tone in his brief post on “JFK conspiracy theories” across platforms on Thursday.
“The truth is alot sadder than the myth — a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme,” Schlossberg wrote. “Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back. There’s nothing heroic about it.”
A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission established by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and his killer Jack Ruby also acted alone. However, the official explanation left many questions unanswered, and the remaining redacted files have amplified conspiracy theories about the shooting for decades.
Jack Schlossberg appears with his mother, Caroline Kennedy, in 2023.
NBC/Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty I
Trump ordered the declassification of files related to Kennedy’s 1963 assassination on Thursday afternoon, directing his staff to present a plan for “full and complete release of all John F. Kennedy assassination records” within 15 days.
He also ordered staff to review the records related to the assassinations of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy–Schlossberg’s great-uncle–and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., both in 1968.
President Donald Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a position in his cabinet following the failed-presidential candidate's endorsement of him.
Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
“A lot of people have been waiting for this one for years, for decades. And everything will be revealed,” the president promised while signing the executive order in the Oval Office. He then instructed an aide to give the pen he signed the order with to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 ordered the remaining sealed or redacted documents pertaining to the assassination released in 25 years—which fell in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office. Trump approved the release of thousands of documents, but held up the rest for review by officials.
Thousands more documents were released under both the Trump and Biden presidencies—but both administrations stopped short of declassifying all files. Experts estimate somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 documents remain fully or partially redacted, the Associated Press reported.
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Trump made declassifying the last remaining files a 2024 campaign trail promise, repeating it after RFK Jr. ended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed the Republican nominee.
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