Crucial information was missing from the JFK assassination files released by the Trump administration on Tuesday, an expert has claimed. Author James Johnston told USA Today that the transcript of the first conversation between President Lyndon Johnson and CIA Director John McCone after the 1963 assassination has still not been released to the public.
The unreleased document could shed more light on the potential Cuban involvement in Kennedy's assassination, particularly since the late president had tried to use the CIA to assassinate communist leader Fidel Castro. McCone has previously been accused of withholding explosive information from the Warren Commission during its investigation into Kennedy's assassination, according to a Politico report.
The Secret Remains a Secret
The sensitive information reportedly revolved around secret plots to eliminate Fidel Castro, which allegedly linked the CIA to organized crime. Without this key information, the Warren Commission never explored the possibility that Oswald may have had co-conspirators in Cuba or elsewhere who sought revenge against Kennedy for attempting to assassinate Castro.
McCone's cover-up was described as " incendiary," as he and other senior CIA officials wanted the commission to concentrate on Oswald, whom they genuinely believed was the sole gunman.
On Tuesday, over 63,000 pages of documents related to President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination were made public following an order from President Donald Trump. Many of these files were released without the redactions that had long frustrated historians and fueled various conspiracy theories.
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration uploaded nearly 2,200 files to its website, containing a mix of typewritten reports and handwritten notes spanning several decades.
Among the revelations were details about a high-ranking CIA agent who alleged that the deep state was involved, claims that Oswald was a "poor shot," and information suggesting the Secret Service had received warnings as early as August—three months before Kennedy was assassinated.
The release of the files caught Trump's national security team off guard, forcing them to scramble for 24 hours to evaluate any potential security risks before publication.
When the documents became public around 7 p.m., they triggered strong reactions from various groups. Liberals slammed the release as a repetition of a similar document dump by Joe Biden years earlier, while MAGA supporters expressed frustration over lingering redactions that left many questions unanswered. Experts described the files as difficult to decipher.
No New Surprises
Most of the National Archives' extensive collection—comprising over six million pages of records, photographs, films, audio recordings, and artifacts related to the assassination—had already been made available to the public.
Before Tuesday's release, researchers estimated that between 3,000 and 3,500 files remained either fully or partially unreleased. Just last month, the FBI announced it had uncovered around 2,400 new records linked to the assassination.
Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, an archive dedicated to assassination-related documents, described the latest release as "an encouraging start" in a statement on the social platform X. He noted that much of the excessive classification of minor details had been removed.
The National Archives said on its website that, following the president's directive, all records previously withheld for classification would now be made public. However, Morley pointed out that Tuesday's release excluded two-thirds of the promised files, the newly discovered FBI documents, and 500 records from the Internal Revenue Service.
Public interest in Kennedy's assassination has remained intense for decades, giving rise to numerous conspiracy theories involving multiple shooters and alleged ties to the Soviet Union or organized crime.
JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963 while visiting Dallas. As his motorcade neared the end of its parade route through downtown, gunshots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository.
Authorities soon arrested 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald, who had taken position as a sniper on the building's sixth floor. However, before he could stand trial, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot dead Oswald during a jail transfer two days later. This fueled one of the earliest conspiracy theories—that Oswald had been silenced to prevent him from revealing who may have framed him.
A year later, President Lyndon Johnson formed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination. The commission ultimately concluded that Oswald acted alone and found no evidence of a broader conspiracy.
Despite the official conclusion, speculation about the events of that day has continued for decades. One of the most enduring theories suggests that a second shooter fired at Kennedy from the well-known "grassy knoll" to the right of his limousine. However, no concrete proof has ever confirmed this claim.
