A covert confrontation erupted inside a classified CIA archival facility in early April when a team acting on behalf of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard arrived unannounced to seize still-classified files on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., according to a detailed account reported by Reuters. The officials pulled up unexpectedly at the secret warehouse in the Washington area, stunning CIA personnel who, as one source put it, had no idea they were about to be overruled “by a higher government agency.”
The group was led by Defense Intelligence Agency officer Paul Allen McDonald II, temporarily assigned to Gabbard’s office, who declared they were “on a mission” from the director. Among those who entered the facility was Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former CIA officer and daughter-in-law of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Although lacking the required badge, she was waved inside and spent roughly an hour reviewing digitization efforts for the enormous paper archive. The operation stretched late into the night, ending around 2 a.m. when a large tranche of documents was transferred to the National Archives for declassification.
The episode exposed mounting strain between the CIA and Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the Trump administration pressed to fulfill the president’s directive to swiftly release long-classified records. Trump had issued an executive order in January requiring Gabbard and other agencies to declassify files tied to the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations. Publicly, the White House insisted it had full confidence in both Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, dismissing any talk of internal divisions. ODNI also emphasized that it had been working in close coordination with the CIA “since the beginning of the administration” to carry out what it called a historic transparency effort.
Behind the scenes, however, frustration was rising. Reuters sources said Gabbard’s team had grown impatient after the CIA missed a 45-day review deadline on RFK and MLK documents. On arrival at the archive, her staff presented paperwork asserting they had legal authority to retrieve the files without CIA approval and warned that anyone obstructing them could be held accountable. One individual familiar with the episode said the move came only after the CIA resisted earlier cooperation, adding that “the director kind of put her foot down.” Others described the agency as fully cooperative and noted that Ratcliffe had personally briefed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on planned releases.
Accounts differed on how heated the encounter became. Two people familiar with the visit told Reuters there was shouting at the entrance, while Gabbard’s office and others insisted the exchange remained professional. Still, all sides appeared to agree on one point: after 60 years of speculation surrounding America’s most infamous political killings, it was time to push the process forward. Days later, at an April 10 cabinet meeting, Gabbard openly boasted that she had sent “hunters” to scour CIA and FBI archives, earning praise from Trump and Kennedy Jr., the latter long suspicious of CIA involvement in the murders — allegations the agency firmly denies.
The confrontation unfolded against a backdrop in which conspiracy theories continue to animate segments of the American public, particularly within Trump’s base. Despite decades of federal findings that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing President Kennedy, polls show many Americans remain unconvinced. Likewise, Sirhan Sirhan’s conviction in Robert Kennedy’s assassination has done little to quiet speculation about deeper plots. The deluge of new files ordered released by Trump — roughly 80,000 JFK records and an additional 70,000 RFK documents so far — has provided further detail on the CIA’s historical knowledge of Oswald but no new evidence contradicting the official conclusions.
At the April archival site, CIA security ultimately deferred to established procedures. Officials already working on declassification were summoned to coordinate the transfer, ensuring secure handling, proper chain of custody, and government-approved transportation of the boxes to the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland. That logistical effort, combined with identifying the precise records Gabbard’s delegation sought, accounted for the late-night handover that lasted until the early morning hours.
Neither McDonald nor Fox Kennedy was made available for interview by ODNI, Reuters reported. Yet the joint statement later issued by Gabbard’s office and the CIA attempted to project unity, stressing their commitment to work “hand-in-hand” to release materials of public interest and advance President Trump’s goal of restoring trust in the intelligence community.
