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Trump Says He Will Quickly Release JFK, Robert Kennedy, MLK Assassination Files 

People attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial marking MLK Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
People attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial marking MLK Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
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Trump Says He Will Quickly Release JFK, Robert Kennedy, MLK Assassination Files 

People attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial marking MLK Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
People attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial marking MLK Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday he would release classified documents in the coming days related to the assassinations of US President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Trump, who returns to the White House on Monday, promised on the campaign trail to release classified intelligence and law enforcement files on the 1963 assassination of JFK, as America's 35th president is widely known.

He had made a similar promise during his 2017 to 2021 term, and he did in fact release some documents related to JFK's 1963 slaying. But he ultimately bowed to pressure from the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and kept a significant chunk of documents under wraps, citing national security concerns.

"In the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other topics of great public interest," Trump said at a rally in downtown Washington, the day before he takes office for a second, non-consecutive term.

Trump did not specify which documents would be released, and he did not promise a blanket declassification. King and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated in 1968.

The JFK assassination, in particular, is a source of enduring fascination in the United States. The murder has been attributed to a sole gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the Justice Department and other federal government bodies have reaffirmed that conclusion in the intervening decades. But polls show many Americans believe his death was a result of a wider conspiracy.

Trump's health and human services secretary-designate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of Robert Kennedy and nephew of JFK, has said he believes the CIA was involved in his uncle's death, an allegation the agency has described as baseless.

Kennedy Jr. has also said he believes his father was killed by multiple gunmen, an assertion that contradicts official accounts.

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Varieties

Millions Across the US Brace for Plummeting Temperatures and Winter Storms 

A view of Central Park as snow falls on January 19, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
A view of Central Park as snow falls on January 19, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Millions Across the US Brace for Plummeting Temperatures and Winter Storms 

A view of Central Park as snow falls on January 19, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
A view of Central Park as snow falls on January 19, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

Residents across the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine are bracing for dangerously low temperatures as tens of millions of residents along the East Coast contend with a thick blanket of snow — and more snowfall in the forecast.

Winter storm warnings issued by the National Weather Service were in effect for parts of the Mid-Atlantic through Monday morning, and warnings began in New England on Sunday afternoon. Heavy lake-effect snow was expected in western New York state Monday through Wednesday morning, with 2 to 3 feet (about 60 to 90 centimeters) possible in some areas including Oswego along Lake Ontario.

Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, projected that as many as 70 million residents will be under some kind of winter storm warning in the coming days.

Return of the Arctic blast

Sunday snowfall was just the start of a chaotic week of weather. Much of the Eastern Seaboard will be enduring some of the coldest temperatures this winter.

An area from the Rockies into the Northern Plains will see colder than normal weather over several days, with temperatures forecast to drop to between minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius) to minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 48 degrees Celsius) on Monday. Sub-zero wind chills are forecast to reach as far south as Oklahoma and the Tennessee Valley.

Minnesota residents were urged to wear appropriate clothing and carry a survival kit for travel. Kristi Rollwagen, director of homeland security and emergency management at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, also urged motorists to drive with a full tank of gas and a fully charged cellphone to keep in touch with loved ones.

“It’s not something we haven’t experienced before, it’s just a good reminder that it does get cold in Minnesota,” Rollwagen said.

Meanwhile, temperatures in Washington, DC, are expected to dip into the 20s (about minus 7 C to minus 1 C) with wind gusts upwards of 30 mph (48 kph), Chenard said. The forecast prompted President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony to be moved inside the US Capitol Rotunda.

Like earlier this month, this latest cold snap comes from a disruption in the polar vortex, the ring of cold air usually trapped about the North Pole.

The cold air will moderate as it moves southward and eastward, but the Central and Eastern US will still experience temperatures in the teens and 20s Monday into Tuesday, Chenard said. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast also will have highs in the teens and 20s, lows in the single digits and below zero degrees F (minus 18 C), and wind chills below zero.

Unusual mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain

The colder temperatures will dip into the South early this week, where as many as 30 million people starting Monday could see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. The unusual conditions are expected to stretch from Texas into northern Florida and the Carolinas.

Impacts are expected starting Monday night in Texas and then spreading across the Gulf Coast and Southeast on Tuesday into Wednesday.

Frigid air combined with a low-pressure system over the Gulf is behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Saturday issued a state of emergency ahead of the severe weather, urging residents to prepare and keep watch on the forecast.