There seems to be one major issue that is rallying considerable bipartisan support on Capitol Hill — namely, having President Donald Trump allow the release of the remaining government records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Trump will have until later this month to make this decision, due to the impending 25th anniversary of the passage of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. A bipartisan Senate resolution is being sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican, and a Democratic counterpart who also used to chair that committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, according to Roll Call.
"Transparency in government is critical not only to ensuring accountability; it’s also essential to understanding our nation’s history. The assassination of President Kennedy occurred at a pivotal time for our nation, and nearly 54 years later, we are still learning the details of how our government responded and what it may have known beforehand. Americans deserve a full picture of what happened that fateful day in November 1963," Grassley said in a statement.
Leahy echoed those thoughts in a statement of his own, saying that "the assassination of President Kennedy was one of the most shocking and tragic events in our nation’s history. Americans have the right to know what our government knows. Transparency is crucial for our country to fully reckon with this national tragedy, and that is the purpose of these resolutions."
Although he is best known for being assassinated on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was also a very accomplished president in his own right. He took the lead in pushing for civil rights legislation (although the bills he helped shape wouldn't be signed into law until after his death), created the Peace Corps, obtained the signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and led America successfully through the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Trump's most prominent mention of Kennedy, however, was when he wrongly claimed that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (then Trump's opponent in the Republican presidential primaries) had had breakfast with Lee Harvey Oswald, the man believed to be Kennedy's assassin.
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