National Archives releases more JFK assassination records

WASHINGTON — The National Archives is releasing another 676 government documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It’s the third public release so far this year.

Last week, President Donald Trump ordered all remaining records released to the public. He also directed agencies to take another look at their proposed redactions and only withhold information in the rarest of circumstances.

This represents the first in a series of rolling releases pursuant to Trump’s directive.

Most of Friday’s release comprises 553 records from the CIA that previously were withheld in their entirety. There also are records from the Justice and Defense departments, the House Select Committee on Assassinations and the National Archives.

Some show officials scrambling to gather information about Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico City weeks before the assassination.

Documents released Friday show officials questioned whether Oswald had been trying to get visas from the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City in order to “make a quick escape after assassinating the president.”

A secret CIA message sent two days after Kennedy’s death says an “important question” that remained unsolved was whether Oswald had been planning to travel right away.

The message says although it appears Oswald “was then thinking only about a peaceful change of residence to the Soviet Union, it is also possible that he was getting documented to make a quick escape after assassinating the president.”