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Amid Calls for Epstein Files, Trump Admin Releases 230,000 MLK Documents
One critic called the move "a desperate attempt to distract from the Trump administration's decision to block the release of the Epstein files."
Jul 21, 2025
As U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans stonewall efforts to keep the full files on deceased financier and convicted child sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein under wraps, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday released a long-anticipated massive trove of documents related to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., despite opposition from his family.
"Today, after nearly 60 years of questions surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we are releasing 230,000 MLK assassination files, available now at https://archives.gov/mlk," Gabbard said on the social media site X. "The documents include details about the FBI's investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information about James Earl Ray's former cellmate who stated he discussed with Ray an alleged assassination plot, and more."
"Thanks to President Donald Trump's leadership, Executive Order 14176 resulted in three, unprecedented interagency efforts to identify, digitize, declassify, and release files related to the federal government's investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. King," Gabbard added.
However, many of the MLK documents remain heavily redacted.
Responding to the MLK files' publication, the King family said in a statement: "As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief—a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met—an absence our family has endured for over 57 years. We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family's continuing grief."
Statement from the King Family on the Release of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination Files:
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— Martin Luther King III (@officialmlk3.bsky.social) July 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
The King family reiterated their belief that "someone other than James Earl Ray was the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame."
"As we review these newly released files, we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted," their statement said.
As his relatives noted, the FBI infamously surveilled King—America's most hated man, according to a 1968 Harris poll that showed the civil rights icon with a 75% negative approval rating—under the notorious COINTELPRO program, especially after his civil rights activism evolved into staunch critiques of U.S. militarism during the escalating Vietnam War and capitalism-driven economic inequality.
Then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy authorized the wiretapping of King's phone, with the head agent in charge of COINTELPRO, William Sullivan, warning that "we must mark [King]... as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation." This, just before King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for helping to lead the struggle against Jim Crow segregation and disenfranchisement.
The FBI systematically bugged King's home and hotel rooms, mailed an anonymous letter urging him to kill himself, and even sent a tape of what it claimed was King having one of his numerous alleged affairs to his wife. When King criticized the FBI for ignoring the heinous and often murderous crimes of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists who were still lynching Black people with alarming regularity and impunity, an infuriated Hoover publicly called him the "most notorious liar" in America.
People from across the political spectrum took to social media to slam the MLK document dump as "a desperate attempt to distract from the Trump administration's decision to block the release of the Epstein files (despite earlier promises)," as the X account Republicans Against Trump portrayed the move.
Prominent attorney and Democratic strategist Aaron Parnas wrote on the social media site Bluesky, "Whether through releasing the MLK files or trying to prosecute President [Barack] Obama, Donald Trump is flooding the zone with information to distract you from the Epstein files."
Bernice King—MLK's granddaughter and CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change—wrote on X: "Now, do the Epstein files."
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DOJ Indicts East LA Community Defender Accused of Giving Face Shields to Anti-ICE Protesters
One group asserted that Alejandro Orellana "has done nothing wrong; speaking out against ICE terror, raids, and deportations is not a crime, protesting is not a crime!"
Jul 03, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday indicted a longtime immigrant rights defender who allegedly distributed items including face shields and bottles of water to demonstrators during a downtown Los Angeles protest last month against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Alejandro Orellana, 29, of East Los Angeles was indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders. According to federal prosecutors, Orellana and others met on June 9 and loaded his Ford pickup truck with face shields, masks, bottles of water, and other items and then drove to a protest and handed out the items.
Orellana was arrested during a June 12 raid by FBI agents backed by National Guard troops and county law enforcement on his family home in East L.A. According to Los Angeles Public Press, federal agents executed a search warrant two weeks later against fellow activist Verita Topete, seizing her phone and leaving her bruised.
At a June 27 press conference at Ruben F. Salazar Park in East Los Angeles, Orellana thanked "friends, family, community, and allies" for their support.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News at the time of Orellana's arrest that "we have made it a huge priority to try to identify, locate, and arrest those who are involved in organizing, supporting, funding, or facilitating these riots."
If fully convicted, Orellana—a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with no criminal record—could face up to five years behind bars.
Orellana and Topete are members of Centro CSO, a Chicano-led civil rights group that is no stranger to state surveillance and repression. Founded in 1947 by Fred Ross, Antonio Rios, and Edward Roybal—who was later elected to the Los Angeles City Council and then the U.S. House of Representatives—the group was originally known as Community Service Organization (CSO).
Notable CSO members have included César Chávez and Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers, both of whom were targeted for FBI surveillance under longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO program.
Centro CSO was born out of CSO in the 2000s to "fight against the war in Iraq, and military recruiters, and also the fight for public education," longtime member Carlos Montes told Los Angeles Public Press. Another Centro CSO member, Sammy Carrera, told the outlet that the arrest of Orellana and seizure of Topete's phone are a continuation of state suppression of CSO.
"I don't think they anticipated such an organized community that was willing to defend our neighbors, our family members, and so they're scrambling to see, you know, see how they can smash us to stop, you, these rebellions that are being organized," Carrera said of the government's response to the anti-ICE protests.
Responding to Orellana's arrest, the Los Angeles-based Legalization 4 All (L4A) Network said last week: "Alejandro has done nothing wrong; speaking out against ICE terror, raids, and deportations is not a crime, protesting is not a crime! As Chicanos, Mexicanos, Centroamericanos around the country are being racially profiled and viciously kidnapped, activists like Alejandro have every right to speak out."
"Protesting is not a crime, fighting against ICE terror is not a crime! Legalization for all and stop the ICE raids now!" L4A added.
Noting the numerous documented injuries suffered by anti-ICE protesters at the hands of police and the Los Angeles Police Department's long history of spying on and repressing civil rights defenders, attorney Peter Bibring told Los Angeles Public Press that "taking protective measures isn't a sign of criminal activity, it's common sense."
Centro CSO has been organizing events in support of Orellana, including a planned press conference at 4:30 pm Thursday at the Edward Roybal Federal Building and a Saturday rally in La Placita Olvera.
"Our movement will continue, even if they obtain warrants to confiscate our electronic devices," Carrera said at the June 27 press conference. "Our movement will continue, even if they bring in the National Guard to raid our members. Our movement will continue. Drop the charges now!"
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The FBI Is Still Targeting Black People for Entrapment
The COINTELPRO era never ended, as Black people bear the brunt of FBI surveillance. The war on terror gave a new rationale for using paid informants to entrap Black people. Romeo Langhorne is the latest victim of a government-created crime.
Jul 17, 2022
Romeo Langhorne is the latest victim of an FBI phony terror entrapment scheme. On July 7, 2022 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for uploading a bomb-making video. Langhorne didn't make a bomb. He uploaded a video while under the direction of an FBI informant. The video had in fact been produced by the government.
More than 20 years after September 11, 2001 Americans are still being told that they are at risk of terrorist attacks. The color-coded risk assessments, NSA surveillance of all electronic and internet activity continues. The threat of terror attacks is the justification for encroaching on civil liberties and phony terror schemes concocted by informants still get headlines and give legitimacy to the continued violations of our rights.
Langhorne is a 32-year-old Black man who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He fits the description of nearly every person whom the FBI has speciously claimed to be a terrorist in the past 20 years. They are Black Americans, Muslims from this country or immigrants who are often vulnerable economically or emotionally. The list of people who were said to have planned acts of terror are victims of intimidation and entrapment from informers who are the ones who lead them to commit the act for which they are convicted.
In this case, Langhorne pleaded guilty to "probably at some point" pledging allegiance to ISIS. The plea is meaningless when no one is ever acquitted. Pleading guilty in this case gets a 20-year sentence, taking the chance of pleading innocent when the prosecutorial deck is stacked against the defendant means risking many more years in prison when the inevitable guilty verdict is reached.
John Leombruno, Langhorne's attorney described the scenario which occurs in most terrorism prosecutions, "Acting in an undercover capacity, they initiated conversations with Mr. Langhorne and incited the production of a video that would inform individuals on how to make an explosive...To make certain that a prosecution of the defendant would occur, the government produced the actual video in question (and), circled back to Mr. Langhorne when the interactions and conversations between them grew cold."
Langhorne shares the same fate with music Tarik Shah, the Liberty City Seven, and the Newburgh Four. All were targeted by FBI informants. In the case of the Liberty City Seven no crime was committed and the Newburgh Four supposed bombing plot was led by the informant, who created the crime himself.
Little has changed since this Black Agenda Report commentary in 2010, which stated that the true purpose of these entrapments is, "... to terrify the American public, so that they will surrender their civil liberties - possibly the greatest extortion scheme in U.S. history." Of course, Black targets are the most useful, as they always "fit the profile" when some wrongdoing is being concocted.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, congress passed the Patriot Act, far-reaching legislation that has impacted civil liberties ever since. At the time it was said to be temporary, yet it has been renewed like clockwork, without opposition or even minimal questioning from members of Congress or the corporate media.
Langhorne was under surveillance from 2014 until his arrest in 2019. We see the usual hyperbolic claims of terroristic intent along with vague assertions of pledges to ISIS or another organization. In all these years there have been no Jihadist terror events in the U.S. Plots are produced by paid snitches and the wheels of injustice grind on and on.
Giving "material support" is a catch-all phrase that can mean anything that prosecutors want. Any statement can be called a pledge of support to ISIS. The end result is that of the 979 terror charges filed since September 11 only 7 individuals have not gone to jail. A guilty plea in cases such as these proves absolutely nothing.
So 32-year-old Romeo Langhorne gets 20 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervision. He will be a senior citizen by the time he is truly free from law enforcement. No one had anything to fear from him or the hundreds of others who have been prosecuted. Apparently, there aren't any real terrorists working in the U.S. If they do exist the feds can't find them. They can only find hapless dupes to persecute and prosecute so that the people don't question what their government does in their names.
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