text: The last batch of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released Thursday by the National Archives. 
   
   The 19,045 documents — the largest batch to date — represent the final release under a directive from President Trump Donald John TrumpAvenatti ‘still considering’ presidential run despite domestic violence arrest Mulvaney positioning himself to be Commerce Secretary: report Kasich: Wouldn’t want presidential run to ‘diminish my voice’ MORE. 
   
   The federal government hit an Oct. 26, 2017, deadline to release thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination in compliance with the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. 
   
   Trump actively encouraged the release of the long anticipated files last year to “put any and all conspiracy theories to rest.” 
   
   Trump then provided agencies with temporary certification until this Thursday to allow for re-review of all documents withheld to release "as much as possible." 
   
   Ultimately, at the request of the FBI and CIA, Trump blocked the release of some of the original records. Those records were not part of the final batch released Thursday and may never be released. 
   
   The administration released all related JFK documents other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living. 
   
   "I have no choice today but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our Nation's security," Trump said in October. ||||| Updated at 2 p.m. to clarify the number of documents remaining under seal. 
   
   WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump issued an order Thursday, keeping some of the most sensitive records from the Kennedy assassination files sealed for another 3 1/2 years, as the National Archives released a final batch under a law meant to force most of the records into the light by last fall. 
   
   In 1992, Congress set a 25-year deadline for releasing remaining documents stemming from John F. Kennedy's murder in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. 
   
   When the deadline arrived — Oct. 26 last year — Trump gave federal agencies a six-month extension to plead the case for keeping selected records sealed, if they could assert a vital national security interest. The FBI and CIA in particular had pressed for more time. 
   
   Some 15,884 records that have now been partially released, some with heavy redactions, will be subject to yet more review over the next three years under Trump's order. 
   
   The National Archives released 19,045 documents Thursday. Those can be downloaded here, along with previously released records, such as secret 1978 testimony from a former CIA station chief in Mexico City, David Atlee Phillips, a Fort Worth native. 
   
   He called assassin Lee Harvey Oswald "loony" and insisted that as far as he could tell, Oswald had acted alone. 
   
   "God knows I would like for it to come out that Fidel Castro was responsible or that the Soviets were responsible," Phillips testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, under questioning by Rep. Floyd Fithian, an Indiana Democrat. "But I know of no evidence to show that the Cubans or the Soviets put him up to it, and I just have to go along on the side that he was a kind of loony fellow who decided to shoot the president, and he did." 
   
   The transcript of the four decade-old testimony was in the batch of documents released Dec. 15. Historians, assassination buffs and conspiracy theorists are still digging through those and other previously secret files for insights into the investigation and countless unrelated topics, from the U.S. escalation in Vietnam to assassination plots and meddling with unfriendly regimes in Cuba, Chile and other nations. 
   
   (Hat tip to Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for flagging the Phillips testimony.) ||||| JFK Assassination Records - 2018 Additional Documents Release 
   
   The National Archives is releasing documents previously withheld in accordance with the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act. The vast majority of the Collection (88%) has been open in full and released to the public since the late 1990s. The records at issue are documents previously identified as assassination records, but withheld in full or withheld in part. Learn more 
   
   These releases include FBI, CIA, and other agency documents (both formerly withheld in part and formerly withheld in full) identified by the Assassination Records Review Board as assassination records. The releases to date are as follows: 
   
   * Note: There are instances where multiple record identification numbers are associated with the same pdf. This is due to the fact that the files were scanned in batches. 
   
   Accessing the Release Files 
   
   The table below displays metadata about all the released documents. You can also download the spreadsheet as an Excel file (4.7MB). 
   
   To view or download a specific document, follow the link in the "Doc Date" column. The files are sorted by NARA Release Date, with the most recent files appearing first. The previous withholding status (i.e., formerly withheld in part or formerly withheld in full) is identified in the “Formerly Withheld Status” column. 
   
   Bulk Download of PDF and WAV files 
   
   You can access individual files by browsing the webpage above and selecting the link in the "Doc Date" column. You may also download the Excel spreadsheet above, which includes links to all of the files. If you need copies of all PDF and WAV files, you can request a compressed bulk download by emailing bulkdownload@nara.gov with “JFK Bulk Download” in the subject line. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — Back in October, President Donald Trump blocked the release of hundreds of records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, agreeing to appeals from the CIA and FBI. 
   
   Now, Trump has accepted a recommendation from the National Archives to keep the lid closed, more than five decades after the 35th president was killed. 
   
   Trump writes in memo issued Thursday that some of the classified documents are "of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure." The FBI and CIA had said the release could jeopardize national security. 
   
   The president ordered agencies to review the remaining documents in the next three years to determine which should be released. 
   
   Congress ordered in 1992 that all records be released in 25 years to put consistent conspiracy theories to rest.
target: – The can has been kicked a little farther down the road. When President Trump in October approved the release of previously classified or redacted documents on the JFK assassination, he blocked the release of others over national security concerns and gave federal agencies 180 days to re-review the withheld documents. The review in some cases turned up "identifiable national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns," per a memo written by Trump, who on Thursday said some files would now be kept under wraps until Oct. 26, 2021. He wrote that some files are "of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure," per the AP, but he ordered that they be reviewed over the next three years, and that any that can be released be made public immediately. The Dallas Morning News reports roughly 19,000 documents were released Thursday by the National Archives—the largest batch thus far, notes the Hill; 520 remain fully sealed. In his memo, Trump included a hopeful note for the curious: "The need for continued protection can only grow weaker with the passage of time from this congressional finding." (Some were hoping files would be released this week that would shed light on a 1971 suicide.)