Trump Questions Whether Lee Harvey Oswald Was Helped in JFK Assassination

The president’s comments were made days after files related to President John F. Kennedy’s death were released to the public for the first time.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House on March 21, 2025. Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Sunday questioned whether Lee Harvey Oswald was assisted in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, just days after new files on the former president’s death were released.

In an interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis, Trump was asked about the trove of classified documents released to the public earlier this month.

While speaking with Trump on Air Force Once, Travis asked, “Do you think Oswald killed JFK personally?”

“I do, and I always felt that, but of course, was he helped?” Trump said. “Nobody could say. And [the case file] has been released,” he added.

Trump described the findings as “somewhat unspectacular” and added that “maybe that’s a good thing.”

Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963, during a visit to Dallas. As his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building.

Police arrested Oswald, who officials said had positioned himself from a sniper’s perch on the sixth floor.

Two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald in front of news cameras as Oswald was being transferred from the Dallas police headquarters to the county jail.

Ruby was convicted of murder in 1964 and sentenced to death. His conviction was later overturned on appeal. He remained in custody, awaiting a retrial, but was diagnosed with cancer in 1966. He died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1967.

Over the past 60 years or so, federal government agencies including the CIA have asserted that Oswald was the lone gunman who shot and killed Kennedy. Many Americans, as polls have shown over the years, doubt the lone gunman narrative promoted by government agencies.

The 1991 film “JFK,” directed by Oliver Stone, explored several theories about Kennedy’s assassination. It was based on the writings of former District Attorney Jim Garrison and others, particularly the allegation that the U.S. government orchestrated Kennedy’s removal in favor of then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Notably, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current head of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in 2023 that his father, then-Sen. Robert F. Kennedy had initially believed that the CIA was responsible for the former president’s death.

The CIA, for decades, has denied it was involved in JFK’s death. An article shared by the CIA on its website, which has since been taken down, posited that Garrison was one of those involved in spreading claims that the CIA or other government agencies were involved. It asserted, in part, that his claims were fueled by Soviet-linked publications that had been spreading disinformation inside the United States.

After taking office, Johnson appointed a commission to investigate the president’s assassination, commonly called the Warren Commission, which found that Oswald acted alone in the assassination. They also found that Ruby’s killing of Oswald was not part of a broader conspiracy to remove Kennedy.

A reproduction copy of the Dallas Morning News from Nov, 22. 1963, on display at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, Mass., on Nov. 22, 2013. Phoebe Ryles/The Epoch Times

In January, Trump signed an executive order mandating the release of the JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. files. He also announced plans to release files on the federal investigation into sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In February, the Department of Justice released the first batch of Epstein files, which later drew criticism from Attorney General Pam Bondi. She said she was “misled” and vowed to “release everything” related to Epstein.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.