U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Saturday that he believes Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, while raising the possibility that the gunman might have had assistance.

During an interview on Air Force One with Clay Travis, founder of the sports website Outkick, Trump said, "I do. And I've always held that, of course he was, was he helped?" The remark underscores a long-standing debate over whether Oswald acted alone—a conclusion reaffirmed by the Justice Department and other federal agencies over the decades—even as public opinion polls suggest many Americans still lean toward a conspiracy theory.

In a move aimed at increasing transparency around one of America's most enduring historical controversies, Trump has ordered the release of thousands of pages of digital documents related to Kennedy's assassination this week. He had promised on the campaign trail last year to shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the president's death.

Furthermore, upon taking office, Trump directed his aides to develop a plan for releasing records pertaining not only to JFK's assassination but also to the 1968 killings of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

While federal investigations continue to uphold that Oswald was the lone assassin, the president’s comments and recent document releases have rekindled public and scholarly debate over the full story behind Kennedy's tragic death.

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