Records Related to the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy

President Donald J. Trump signed 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., on January 23, 2025.  Records relating to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy that have been released will be available on this webpage and will be added on a rolling basis.  

The National Archives’ Role in Fulfilling Executive Order 14176

In accordance with United States law, it is the responsibility of the National Archives to serve as the final repository of the records of the United States federal government, and make those records available to the American people.  Many of the records related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy were previously transferred to the National Archives from federal agencies but were not available to the public. The National Archives is working closely with other federal agencies across the Executive Branch to ensure that any remaining records are identified and transferred to the National Archives  as soon as possible. 

How is the National Archives Making These Records Available?

The National Archives is working with other federal agencies to review and release records related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Records relating to the assassination of Senator Kennedy will be added to this web page on a rolling basis as they are released.

These records are being reviewed through a prioritized interagency process to ensure maximum transparency under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Researchers may encounter some information that is withheld under FOIA, as required by law. 

2025 Release

The table below displays the file names and links to all of the documents released related to the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. 

• April 18, 2025 - 7:30 AM EDT Release: 10,185 pages (229 PDF files)

• May 7, 2025 - 7:00 PM EDT Release: 64,686 pages (1,499 PDF files and 17 MP3 audio files)

Release Notes

For records released on April 18, 2025, researchers may encounter a combination of black and white and colored scans. Here’s why: black and white scans were used in order to more efficiently facilitate the prioritized interagency review process. However, some pages were not legible in black and white. When the National Archives encountered unreadable pages, they were replaced with legible color scans. 

For records released on May 7, 2025, researchers may encounter records that contain “FBI Experience” in the title and represent evidentiary materials from the FBI Los Angeles (LA) Field Office investigation into the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (KENSALT).  In July 2020, the LA Field Office sent these KENSALT evidentiary materials to The FBI Experience in Washington, D.C. These evidentiary materials were organized and placed in folders while in the custody of the FBI Experience, but were never displayed. While some of the items located in the FBI Experience RFK assassination files are also found in other KENSALT case files, these are separate copies that were maintained by the LA Field Office in their evidentiary files. 

For records released on May 7, 2025, researchers may encounter records that contain “FOIA Copies” in the title consisting of copies of the records previously released under the Freedom of Information Act in 1976  that were subsequently added to the KENSALT case file. These records will contain prior redactions that were completed at the time of the FOIA request.

Other Records Related to RFK

• Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Attorney General Files

• Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Pre-Administration Papers

• Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Senate Papers

• Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Presidential Campaign Papers

• Ford Press Releases, January - December 1968

• Robert F. Kennedy Tributes

• Jean Stein Personal Papers (Records compiled by a biographer of RFK)

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Image: Detail of portrait of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, by Aaron A. Shikler (1975), Department of Justice.