A slew of tantalizing files concerning the JFK assassination are set to be released later this year under one intriguing condition: President Trump must allow it to happen.
Back in 1992, the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act decreed that a cache of documents about the infamous event would remain classified for at least 25 years.
Believed to be around 3,500 files from the FBI, CIA, and other government agencies, the collection has taken on somewhat a mystique in JFK assassination research circles with the hope that there may be some new clue hidden in the papers.
With the waiting period set to expire in October of 2017, the decision on whether or not the files will be declassified falls upon the President, who has the sole authority to make the call.
As to where Trump stands on the release of the documents, the website Politico quoted a source at the White House who said that he is aware of the law and seemed to indicate that the declassification will happen later this year.
In anticipation of this possibility, staff at the National Archives are preparing the files for release, provided that the President allows it.
Although the details contained in the documents remain secret, some general information about a few of the files is available, including that one batch concerns Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico prior to the assassination.
A judge tasked with originally surveying the files told Politico that there were "no bombshells" that he could see in the documents, but one would assume he has not pored over the case the way JFK assassination researchers have done for decades.
Leading up to the October deadline, the CIA and FBI say that they plan to review the files to determine if they will request continued classification of the documents, but only President Trump can make that decision.
Considering the President's affinity for conspiracy theories, historians and JFK assassination researchers are hopeful that Trump will finally make the much-discussed files available for the world to see.
And perhaps they'll contain the final dots that will connect the entire tale into a scenario that makes sense.
Source: Politico