WikiLeaks has offered a $100,000 reward for withheld JFK assassination documents that show evidence of criminal activity or a bungled investigation.
The announcement was made on Friday, after previously unseen intelligence files relating to the assassination of US President John F Kennedy were released by the US National Archives.
The full batch of the JFK files was set for release on Thursday, and while 2,891 new records were made available to the public, a number of files still remain under lock and key due to fears they could harm US national security.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks called the delay “inexcusable” and suggested it was a move against Trump by intelligence agencies.
Spies hold up release of JFK assassination records; an unstated number of docs will be withheld until at least 2018 https://t.co/OR3OUBQrMt pic.twitter.com/hntTo17JzL
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 27, 2017
RT reports: Although the US National Archives says the remaining documents will be published on a rolling basis “as soon as possible,” WikiLeaks is encouraging people with access to such files to come forward sooner rather than later. The organization is offering $100,000 to anyone who leaks information about the JFK case.
However, there are stipulations for the reward, which the whistleblower site specified online: “WikiLeaks issues a $100,000 reward for the withheld JFK documents should they show violations of laws, inefficiency, or administrative error.”
WikiLeaks issues a $100,000 reward for the withheld JFK documents should they show violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error. pic.twitter.com/SiQ6GUVNLz
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 27, 2017
US President John F Kennedy died on November 22, 1963, after he was shot while traveling through Dallas in an open-top car. The accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot two days after the presidential killing while being escorted from Dallas police headquarters. The events spawned a number of conspiracy theories, forcing the US government to drip-feed intelligence and investigative information to the public in the subsequent years.
The new documents reveal Oswald had been watched by the FBI in the weeks before he is said to have pulled the trigger on Kennedy. The documents also show that the Soviet Union feared the killing was part of a conspiracy lead by “ultra-right” US nationals to spark an all-out war between the two countries, while a British newspaper was tipped off 25 minutes before the incident.
Niamh Harris