Tulsi Gabbard's Intelligence Team Seizes Classified Kennedy Assassination Files from Secret CIA Warehouse

WASHINGTON:

In early April, officials representing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard arrived unannounced at a covert CIA archival facility in the Washington area. Their mission was clear: to take possession of classified CIA files relating to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.

The team's unexpected arrival caught CIA personnel off guard, according to three individuals familiar with the operation who spoke to Reuters. Gabbard's objective was to remove these sensitive documents from CIA custody and initiate their declassification process through the National Archives.

One source indicated that the CIA had no prior knowledge they were about to receive directives that day "from a higher government agency." This source characterized the encounter as perhaps the most contentious moment in the nascent relationship between Gabbard's office and the CIA.

Leading the operation was Paul Allen McDonald II, a Defense Intelligence Agency official temporarily assigned to Gabbard's office, who declared they were "on a mission" from Gabbard herself, according to two sources.

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former CIA officer and daughter-in-law of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., made a brief appearance after arriving in her minivan. Despite lacking proper credentials to enter the facility, she was permitted access. One source reported that Fox Kennedy remained for approximately an hour, primarily focused on efforts to digitize the extensive paper archives.

This previously unreported incident continued until 2 a.m. the following morning when a substantial collection of documents was finally transferred to the National Archives, two sources confirmed.

The episode illuminates growing tensions between two powerful Washington entities—the CIA and Gabbard's DNI office—as Trump appointees moved to implement the president's directives for rapid release of complete records regarding Kennedy's 1963 assassination, as well as the high-profile 1968 killings of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

White House spokesman Steven Cheung affirmed that President Trump maintained full confidence in both Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. "Efforts by the legacy media to sow internal division are a distraction that will not work," Cheung stated.

An ODNI spokesperson emphasized that they "have worked in close coordination with the CIA since the beginning of the administration to carry out this historic release of files."

In January, Trump issued an executive order instructing Gabbard and other intelligence agencies to declassify records related to the JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations.

Reuters could not independently verify whether Gabbard specifically authorized this archives mission or to what extent Trump may have been briefed beforehand regarding individual operations within the declassification effort.

The Director of National Intelligence serves as the president's principal intelligence advisor and oversees 17 agencies, including the CIA. The role typically involves managing interagency relations.

In a joint statement, Gabbard's ODNI and the CIA declared that both agencies "have and will continue working hand-in-hand to release and declassify documents of public interest and execute President Trump's mission of restoring trust in the intelligence community."

'THE DIRECTOR KIND OF PUT HER FOOT DOWN.'

A 45-day deadline established in Trump's executive order for reviewing and presenting a declassification plan for Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. files had expired in March, generating frustration among Gabbard's team regarding the slow progress, one individual reported.

Upon arrival at the CIA archive warehouse, officials presented documentation asserting Gabbard's office had legal authority to take possession of the documents even without CIA approval, warning that anyone obstructing the process could face consequences, according to one source familiar with the events.

This source explained that the ODNI took this approach "because they (CIA officials) were not cooperating up until that point. So the director kind of put her foot down."

Another source described the CIA as highly cooperative, noting that Director Ratcliffe had briefed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding what the agency planned to publicly release about his father's assassination.

Reuters could not establish the precise name or location of the CIA archives facility.

Two sources described tensions at the facility entrance, including raised voices. However, Gabbard's office and two additional sources maintained that interactions between Gabbard's team and CIA personnel remained professional.

One source who characterized the exchange as professional noted there appeared to be "a shared recognition that while the timeline was short, it had also been 60 years" since the Kennedy assassinations, and declassification was overdue.

Gabbard broadly outlined the declassification effort during an April 10 cabinet meeting, informing Trump she had dispatched "hunters" to search archives at both the CIA and FBI for relevant materials. "We are actively going out and trying to search out the truth," Gabbard stated during the meeting, as journalists observed.

At that meeting, Trump praised the document search, as did Kennedy Jr., who has long expressed suspicion regarding CIA involvement in his father's and uncle's assassinations—allegations the CIA has consistently rejected.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES HAVE LONG ANIMATED MAGA BASE

For over six decades, the U.S. Justice Department and other federal entities have maintained that President Kennedy's 1963 assassination was perpetrated by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

However, polls indicate many Americans remain skeptical, and conspiracy theories—from Epstein files and QAnon to longstanding questions about JFK's assassination—have consistently resonated with key segments of Trump's MAGA base.

Former senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated five years after his brother JFK. Sirhan Sirhan confessed to and was convicted of killing him at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel.

Faced with demands from Gabbard's team at the archive site in April, security personnel summoned CIA officials already engaged in declassifying agency files, according to one source familiar with the incident. This individual added that the CIA was not opposed to releasing files through proper procedures.

The agency agreed to transfer files to the National Archives, which has managed the digitization and public release of materials, in accordance with government regulations. This process required preserving the "chain of custody," ensuring appropriate security, and using government vehicles for document transport.

Coordinating these arrangements, identifying which files Gabbard's delegation sought, and transporting them to the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland, continued until 2 a.m. the following day, the source stated.

"It all had to be coordinated," the source explained.

The ODNI did not make Allen McDonald or Fox Kennedy available for interviews.

In March, the National Archives began releasing approximately 80,000 Kennedy assassination files, including CIA materials, following Trump's directives.

The declassified files revealed more about the CIA's knowledge of Oswald than previously acknowledged publicly, experts note. However, no new information has emerged challenging the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone on November 22, 1963. Similarly, nothing in the 70,000 RFK files released in April and May has contradicted established findings.