10,000 pages of records about Robert F. Kennedy's assassination are released

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save WASHINGTON — About 10,000 pages of records related to the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were released Friday, including handwritten notes by the gunman, who said the Democratic presidential candidate "must be disposed of" and acknowledged an obsession with killing him.

The release continued the disclosure of national secrets ordered by President Donald Trump. Kennedy was shot and killed June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after giving a speech celebrating his victory in California's presidential primary. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan , was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.



Sirhan Sirhan, right, accused of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is seen in June 1968 with his attorney Russell E.

Parsons in Los Angeles. The files included pictures of handwritten notes by Sirhan. "RFK must be disposed of like his brother was," read the writing on the outside of an empty envelope with the return address from the district director of the Internal Revenue Service in Los Angeles.

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F.K must be killed." In a note dated May 18, 1968, he wrote: "My determination to eliminate R.

F.K. is becoming more of an unshakable obsession.

" In another of the newly released documents, the assassin said he advocated for "the overthrow of the current president." Democrat Lyndon Johnson was in the White House at the time of RFK's death. "I have no absolute plans yet, but soon will compose them," wrote Sirhan, who pledged support for communist Russia and China.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.

Y., speaks to campaign workers June 5, 1968, as his wife, Ethel, left, and California campaign manager and speaker of the California Assembly, Jesse Unruh, look on at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The newly released files also included notes from interviews with people who knew Sirhan from a wide variety of contexts, such as classmates, neighbors and co-workers.

While some described him as "a friendly, kind and generous person" others depicted a brooding and "impressionable" young man who felt strongly about his political convictions and briefly believed in mysticism. According to the files, Sirhan told his garbage collector that he planned to kill Kennedy shortly after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

The co-worker, a Black man, said he planned to vote for Kennedy because he would help Black people. "Well, I don't agree. I am planning on shooting the son of a (expletive)," Sirhan replied, the man told investigators.

FBI documents describe interviews with a group of tourists who heard rumors about Kennedy being shot weeks before his death. Several people who visited Israel in May 1968 said a tour guide told them Kennedy was shot. One person said he heard that an attempt on Kennedy's life was made in Milwaukee.

Another heard that he was shot in Nebraska. The National Archives and Records Administration posted 229 files containing the pages to its public website. Many files related to the assassination previously were released, but others had not been digitized and sat for decades in federal government storage facilities.

FILE - President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order aiming to declassify remaining federal records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F.

Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington.

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) The release came a month after unredacted files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were disclosed. Those documents gave curious readers more details about Cold War-era covert U.

S. operations in other nations but did not initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK. In the name of transparency, Trump championed the release of documents related to high-profile assassinations and investigations.

The Republican also was deeply suspicious of the government's intelligence agencies for years. His administration's release of once-hidden files opens the door for additional public scrutiny and questions about the operations and conclusions of institutions such as the CIA and the FBI. Trump signed an executive order in January calling for the release of government documents related to the assassinations of Robert F.

Kennedy and King, who were killed within two months of each other. Sirhan Sirhan reacts Feb. 10, 2016, during a parole hearing at the Richard J.

Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Lawyers for Kennedy's killer said for decades that he is unlikely to reoffend or pose a danger to society, and in 2021, a parole board deemed Sirhan suitable for release. Gov.

Gavin Newsom rejected the decision in 2022, keeping him in state prison. In 2023, a different panel denied him release , saying he still lacks insight into what caused him to shoot Kennedy. Robert F.

Kennedy Jr., a son of the New York senator who now serves as Health and Human Services secretary, commended Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, for their "courage" and "dogged efforts" to release the files. "Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government," the health secretary said in a statement.

Photos: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the years Robert Kennedy Jr.

, when asked why he was wearing a "Black is beautiful," button Thursday on April 1, 1982 in New York He points to his fiance Emily Black. Her reaction was even more simple. She just pointed to herself and smiled.

The couple at Trax after friend gave Kennedy a bachelor party in New York earlier in the evening. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

and his wife Emily Black Kennedy, at right with Art Buchwald, center at a reception celebrating the publication of the autobiography of Virginia Durr, "Outside the Magic Circle", at the library of New York University on Feb 19, 1986, at New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) President Bill Clinton chats with Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, and her son, Robert Kennedy Jr.

, before the start of a memorial mass, Sunday, June 6, 1993 at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Thousands joined the Kennedy family to honor RFK on the 25th anniversary of his death. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson) Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. fishes with his son Bobby, 8, left, and daughter Kathleen, nicknamed "Kick," on the dock of his 11-acre Mount Kisco estate, Sept. 7, 1993.

Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a ceremony in Washington Tuesday July 22, 1997 where the Earth Conservation Corps released four three-month eagles.

Challenger the Eagle, the only trained free-flying eagle in the U.S. who entertained during the event is at right.

(AP Photo/Ruth Fremson) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears with Liz Claiborne at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in New York, Thursday, June 15, 2000.

Claiborne was honored with the lifetime achievement award. (AP Photo/Mitch Jacobson) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, addresses the delegates at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004, in Boston. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

, gestures while speaking at Unity College in Unity, Maine, Friday, Sept. 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach) Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. testifies in Superior Court in Stamford, Conn., Tuesday, April 17, 2007, at a hearing to determine whether his cousin, Michael Skakel, should receive a new trial in the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley.

Skakel was tried and found guilty of Moxley's death in 2002. (AP Photo/Bob Child) Actor Jim Carrey, left, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

speak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 4, 2008, during a rally calling for the elimination of toxins from children's vaccines. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

speaks during the Green Sunday At Red Rocks Democratic National Convention welcoming concert in Morrison, Colo. on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008.

(AP Photo/Matt Sayles) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., left, speaks with former United States President Bill Clinton during a ceremony to mark the official renaming of the Triborough Bridge to the Robert F.

Kennedy Bridge in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) MSG: Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary arrive during funeral services for U.S.

Senator Edward Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts August 29, 2009. Senator Kennedy died late Tuesday after a battle with cancer. REUTERS/Brian Snyder Robert F.

Kennedy Jr., left, gestures as he speaks during a news conference as he endorses Gov. Charlie Crist, right, in Crist's independent candidacy for the Senate, Wednesday, Oct.

13, 2010 at Shelby's Kitchen & Deli in Deerfield Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

makes remarks during a rally Monday, May 7, 2012, in Portland, Ore. Columbia Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, Climate Solutions and Greenpeace sponsored the rally to fight a half-dozen proposals to ship coal from Montana and Wyoming to Asia through Northwest ports. The opponents warn of local problems from coal dust and long coal trains.

They also say expanding Asian access to American coal would be bad for the world environment. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

, left, and his children turn away after paying their respects at the casket of Mary Richardson Kennedy, in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Mass., Saturday, May 19, 2012.

Mary Richardson Kennedy was found dead of an apparent suicide last week at her home in Bedford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. attends the premiere of the HBO documentary "Ethel" at the Time Warner Center on Monday Oct. 15, 2012 in New York.

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is arrested in Washington, Wednesday, Feb.

13, 2013, as prominent environmental leaders tied themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt) Activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, attend the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award ceremony, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 in New York.

(AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, Jan.

10, 2017, for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Woody Harrelson, left, star of "LBJ," embraces Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

at the premiere of the film at the ArcLight Hollywood on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Cheryl Hines, right, and Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr. appear in the audience at the 24th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, in Los Angeles.

(Photo by Vince Bucci/Invision/AP) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attends the 2018 Robert F.

Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards at the New York Hilton Midtown on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP) Attorney Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr. speaks after a hearing challenging the constitutionality of the state legislature's repeal of the religious exemption to vaccination on behalf of New York state families who held lawful religious exemptions, during a rally outside the Albany County Courthouse Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, in Albany, N.

Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink) Attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

, speaks against proposed Democratic bills that would add new doses of vaccines to attend school, during a protest rally on behalf of New York state families against the vaccination of children at the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Albany, N.Y.

(AP Photo/Hans Pennink) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of Robert Kennedy, stages a protest against the COVID-19 vaccination green pass in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov.

13, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

speaks at an event where he announced his run for president on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, in Boston. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

, arrives to testify before a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter..