The administration of the American president Donald Trump published a mine of files on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, including FBI surveillance files on the leader in civil rights.
An order imposed by the court has kept the FBI documents, totaling 230,000 pages, blocked by the public since 1977.
Many members of the King family had opposed the release. A declaration of his two living children condemned “any attempt to register these documents in a manner intended to undermine our father’s inheritance”.
King, a Baptist minister, was shot in Memphis on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to murder, but then gave up his plea.
The two living children of King JR, Martin III and Bernice, who were informed in advance of the Liberation, said on Monday in a press release: “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint and respect for the continuous grief of our family.
“The release of these files must be consulted in their full historical context.
“During our father’s life, he was implacally targeted by an invasive, predatory and deeply disturbing campaign of disinformation and surveillance orchestrated by J Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”
The statement indicates that the surveillance of the government had refused King “dignity and the freedoms of the private people”.
On the campaign track, Trump promised the Americans that he would publish files on King’s assassinations and former president John F Kennedy.
He signed a decree in January in January, ordering that the documents of the two assassinations be declassified, as well as the files of the assassination of Robert F Kennedy.
The Office of the National Intelligence Director (DNI) said in a press release on Monday: “MLK files in today’s press release had never been digitized and attended dust in federal government facilities for decades, until today.”
Documents include “FBI internal memos” and “CIA files never seen” behind the King’s assassin, said the DNI.
The press release was coordinated with the FBI, the Ministry of Justice, the National Archives and the CIA.
“The American people deserves responses from decades after the horrible assassination of one of the great leaders of our country,” said US general prosecutor Pamela Bondi.
Trump criticisms noted that the communication comes as the administration is accused of a lack of transparency on files relating to the sexual offender influence Jeffrey Epstein, whose death of prison in 2019 was judged to suicide.
The leader of civil rights, Al Sharpton, said that the liberation of the king’s files was “a desperate attempt to distract” the Firetorm engulfing Trump on Epstein’s files and the public of his credibility “.
The whole King family was not upset by the Liberation.
Referring to the leader of civil rights as “my uncle”, Alveda King said: “I am grateful to President Trump and Dni Gabbard for having given their transparency commitment.
“While we continue to cry his death, the declassification and the release of these documents are a historical step towards the truth that the American people deserves.”
