The Secret CIA Archive Raid
In a stunning early April operation that caught America's top spy agency completely off-guard, a team of officials arrived unannounced at a secret CIA archival facility in the Washington area. Their mission was clear and unprecedented: to seize still-classified Central Intelligence Agency files concerning the historic assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
The team, acting under the authority of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, pulled up in their vehicles without warning, according to three individuals familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters. This bold move marked a significant escalation in the ongoing effort to declassify decades-old documents that have fueled conspiracy theories for generations.
Confrontation at the CIA Warehouse
The operation was led by Defense Intelligence Agency official Paul Allen McDonald II, who was temporarily assigned to Gabbard's office. McDonald declared they were "on a mission" from Gabbard, emphasizing the seriousness of their task. The CIA security personnel were reportedly unaware they would be receiving directions "from a higher government agency" that day.
Adding to the drama, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy—a Trump administration official, CIA veteran, and daughter-in-law of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—arrived in her minivan. Though she lacked the necessary security badge to access the warehouse, she was waved in and spent approximately an hour focusing on efforts to digitize the massive archive of sensitive papers.
The officials presented documentation asserting that Gabbard's office had the legal authority to take possession of the documents even without CIA approval. According to one source familiar with the events, the ODNI took this step "because they (CIA officials) were not cooperating up until that point. So the director kind of put her foot down."
While some sources described tensions at the entryway, including shouting, both Gabbard's office and other individuals maintained that the interactions remained professional throughout the lengthy operation.
Historic Transfer and Political Implications
The extraordinary episode, which lasted until 2 a.m. the next morning, culminated in the transfer of a massive trove of documents to the National Archives. This development casts new light on the tension between two powerful Washington forces—the CIA and Gabbard's Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The operation came after President Trump's January executive order instructing Gabbard and intelligence agencies to declassify records related to the JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations. A 45-day deadline in Trump's order to review documents and present a declassification plan had expired in March, creating frustration within Gabbard's team about the slow progress.
White House spokesman Steven Cheung responded to the incident by stating that Trump had "full confidence" in both Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, while dismissing media reports of internal division as "a distraction that will not work."
In a joint statement, Gabbard's ODNI and the CIA claimed the two 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."
Decades of Conspiracy Theories
The push for transparency touches on one of America's most enduring mysteries. While the U.S. Justice Department has maintained for over 60 years that President Kennedy's 1963 murder was the work of lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, polls consistently show many Americans remain unconvinced.
Conspiracy theories—from questions about JFK's assassination to the Epstein files and QAnon—have long animated key parts of Trump's MAGA base. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who attended an April cabinet meeting where Gabbard described sending "hunters" to scour CIA and FBI archives, has repeatedly voiced suspicions about CIA involvement in his father's and uncle's killings.
The CIA has consistently rejected such allegations. In March, the National Archives began releasing approximately 80,000 Kennedy assassination files on Trump's orders, followed by 70,000 RFK files in April and May. While these releases provided more details about the CIA's knowledge of Oswald than previously admitted, they haven't challenged the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone.
The transferred documents are now undergoing proper digitization and will be released to the public through the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, following government regulations that preserve the "chain of custody" and ensure proper security protocols.
