JFK assassination files: Why are the classified documents being released now, and what are they likely to reveal?

Classified files on the assassination of John F. Kennedy are to be made public this week.

Donald Trump unexpectedly announced on Saturday that the files on the murder of the 35th president would now be released.

The US leader said the classified documents would be revealed “subject to the receipt of further information”.

It comes after Kennedy was shot dead by a sniper in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

Why are the files being released now?

Congress ruled in 1992 that all files relating to the assassination should be released within 25 years, except in cases where the president believes their release could harm national interests.

Following the murder in 1963, Mr Trump said on Twitter: “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened."

When is the deadline for their release?

The files are scheduled to be opened by the US National Archives on Thursday, October 26.

But under the 1992 guidelines, the president is entitled to extend the classified status of the files.

What is likely to be revealed in the documents?

It is not immediately unclear whether Mr Trump will allow the documents to be released in full or with redactions.

The archive contains more than 30,000 unreleased documents, and upwards of another 30,000 that were released previously but with redactions.

The files may shed more light on Lee Havery Oswald’s activities in Mexico City just months before the assassination.

On the day of the shooting, Oswald was arrested in Dallas and charged with the murder. He denied the charges.

He was gunned two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby and the events that led to Kennedy’s assassination became a potent conspiracy theory.

According to the Washington Post, Kennedy assassination experts do not think the last batch of documents released contained any bombshell findings.

The documents include FBI and CIA reports.

Ahead of the release, what do we already know?

Thousands of books, articles, TV shows, movies and documentaries have been produced about the assassination.

Surveys have shown a majority of Americans still distrust official evidence pointing to Oswald as the sole killer.

Despite serious questions about the official inquest, and theories purporting that organized crime, Cuba or a cabal of U.S. security agents was involved, conspiracy theorists have yet to produce conclusive proof Oswald that did not act alone.

Over the years, the National Archives has released most documents related to the case, but a final batch, amounting to tens of thousands of pages, remains and only Trump has the authority to decide whether some should continue to be withheld or released in redacted form.

Philip Shenon, the author of a book on the assassination, said he did not think the last batch of papers contained any major bombshells, but may shed light on the activities of Oswald while he was traveling in Mexico City in late September 1963, and courting Cuban and Soviet spies.

"From the record we already have, we know he met there with Soviet spies and Cuban spies and other people who might have wanted to see Kennedy dead," Shenon said.

"It’s going to be very interesting to see what else the government knew about the threat Oswald might pose, how much more they learned about his trip in Mexico City and whether or not they bungled evidence to suggest he was a threat."