JFK files: CIA seizes JFK & MK-Ultra files & growing questions about transparency | Backscroll

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]CIA whistleblower testified that the US intelligence covered up information that pointed to a lab leak. That's right. It wasn't bat soup that caused the whole world to lock down. It was the government and a reckless and experimental lab in Wuhan, China. So, why would our own intelligence community cover up for China at the expense of American lives? Earlier today, I spoke with Florida Congresswoman Anna Pina Luna to see what she had to say. But first, she came to us with some pretty shocking breaking news. It's about files pertaining to the assassination of JFK and MK Ultra, which was the CIA's human experiment experimentation program. We have learned since our interview with Luna the CIA marched into the National Reconnaissance Office warehouse in the middle of the night and took files under the jurisdiction of DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

[00:00:45]It was not a raid and it did not happen today, but it did happen and the files were not given back. Take a listen to my interview with Congressman Luna when we first heard the news.

[00:00:56]But before we get to the CIA whistleblower about the COVID 19 pandemic and Dr. Anthony Fouch's role in the cover up, you also have some news coming out of the CIA that you'd like to share.

[00:01:10]>> Yeah, so we were actually just notified that the CIA went in and took documents out of OD and u multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files as well as MK Ultra. The reason why this is troubling is a there was an executive order that the president had directed the full declassification of JFK, but then also to the MK Ultra Files. The CIA famously has said that, you know, all documents were released and other documents had been destroyed. So these are allegedly those documents that apparently never existed. And so very troubling. Um I did just talk to Chairman Comr and we are sending in the next hour or so a preservation of documents request to the CIA. I have calls in to the White House, to the director of the CIA himself, and so obviously as this develops, we'll keep everyone up to date. But strange times we're living in, that's for sure.

[00:01:59]>> Does the CIA have jurisdiction to go into Gabbard's office like that and take documentation?

[00:02:07]>> Uh, well, the CIA does not have jurisdiction to work against an executive order by the president. And so the fact that someone did this when the president is out of country, um, from what I gather, I believe that director Radcliffe is with him and so this seems like it was an internal coup to be honest.

[00:02:24]>> Okay. Well, we will certainly be watching that. Thank you for sharing what really happened to the JFK assassination and MK Ultra materials taken by the CIA. Here's a bit of background as to what happened.

[00:02:37]Yesterday, we taped an interview with Congresswoman Anna Pon Paulina Luna, which took place right after a CIA whistleblower made a bombshell claim in testimony about the CIA taking material under DNI Tulsi Gabbard's jurisdiction.

[00:02:51]The information was still new at the time of the taping and it was in the afternoon, but by the time we went to air, a few things were clear. Sources within the intelligence community confirmed with Katie Pavage tonight that JFK and MK Ultra materials were indeed taken by the CIA at some point last year. The materials were not taken this week and there was not a CIA raid on director national of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office that we made very clear. You did not hear anything about a raid from NewsNation on our show. However, the materials were under DNI Gabbard's jurisdiction. They were taken from the National Reconnaissance Office by people from the CIA during last year's government shutdown. The CIA has not given the materials back, which Gabbard's office was in the process of preparing for declassification in line with an executive order issued by President Trump. In addition to this, according to whistleblower testimony, the CIA illegally monitored members of the Director's Initiatives Group or DIG, led by DNI Gabbard, here's what one whistleblower said yesterday.

[00:04:02]>> The CIA illegally monitored the computer and phone usage of DIG personnel, their investigations, and contact with whistleblowers.

[00:04:10]These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the director national intelligence.

[00:04:23]When I asked an intelligence official why the CIA would take these materials and refused to give them back, the official said, quote, "The CIA doesn't think they answered to anyone," referring to those who took the files, but also doubted that CIA director John Ratcliffe quote even knew what happened.

[00:04:40]So, to be extra clear, there was not a raid yesterday, but there were JFK and MK Ultra files under DNA Gabbard's jurisdiction taken and not given back.

[00:04:53]and they were still and still are being withheld despite an executive order from President Trump calling for their release.

[00:05:00]>> Annapon Alolina Luna, one of the reasons I love your transparency uh campaign is because it does help people have faith that you guys are doing something, especially in the midst of doing nothing. What did you learn from the Kennedy assassination and make sure you help people understand the source and what that means to you in the assessment of it?

[00:05:22]Um, well, look, uh, with the admissions from our own government in those declassified files, the CIA did obstruct and interfere with congressional investigations. And according to what we learned from witnesses actually in the hospital where Kennedy was brought after he was shot, he was shot from multiple angles. So, did our government know about it and have Oswald under surveillance? Absolutely. But, you know, Chris, I'm glad that I was actually able to break the news about me initially obtaining and having conversations with the government government of Russia in an effort to obtain those Oswald and um the Soviet area documents looking into the assassination of JFK because I timestamped that and we were actually able to finally obtain those documents.

[00:06:02]And this comes on the eve of a very historic meeting that will be happening next week in Hungary where President Trump and Putin will be likely talking about a trade deal. Um this will be the first time really since those back channelneled conversations with Kennedy and the then Soviet president of Russia >> um about those similar talks. And so these are historic times that we're living in. And I am grateful for the sake of the American um historical account of the assassination of Kennedy as well as from many of the investigators that we were given those documents because it is providing historical context and according to researchers to include a former um NSC adviser to Clinton who will I'm sure be making a statement soon. But these documents are being confirmed to be authentic. So you know APL that you know you're dealing with a guy who is a coldblooded killer and they are masters of manipulation and making us hate one another. Are you concerned uh both that that's why Putin is going to Hungary because uh the president is meeting with Zalinsky about giving them tomahawks which may be a gamecher in the state of play there to manipulate the president.

[00:07:13]Uh, are you worried that you may be manipulated by what they're telling you they know about the Kennedy assassination?

[00:07:21]>> Um, well, that's where our our um experts in Kennedy and also intelligence comes in to confirm these documents, right? But as of right now, if you're saying that not and not you specifically, but if you know in the documents it's talking about how Kennedy was advocating against the exchange of basically nukes, right? We all know this about the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis, but that's nothing new. Um, in fact, these documents are confirming a lot of what's been released by our own governments and also providing the diplomatic um, perspective of the assassination of Kennedy, which Congress has been trying to obtain for decades.

[00:07:55]And I don't think that this is coming at a similar time to those talks because we've been coordinating this for months.

[00:08:00]And as you know, Chris, I actually was able to announce it on your show when we first got word of this. So, um, they didn't approach me. I approached them on behalf of our task force and our investigations because I was made aware of the documents. Um, but ultimately to answer your question, you know, our jobs as members of Congress is to first and foremost, if you're good, if you're a good leader, is to advocate for peace and not war. And you should not be ever advocating for a continuation of that war because there are many millions of people on both sides that are being killed. And a lot of them are the youth of those nations. And so I'm happy that President Trump is in office and he's had to talk to some very bad people to include, you know, the people that run Hamas, which is not so nice of an organization, but because of his willingness to do that and open up those dialogues and conversations, he was able to negotiate the peace deal in Gaza. And I think every side agrees that that's historical. And so I don't care who it is, I'll have the conversations if that means peace.

[00:08:51]>> Well, you know, it depends who you talk to, right? because there are people on the uh left far-left political spectrum who think Hamas is freedom fighters uh in this crazy uh society that we're in right now. Ammy, last question to you on this. The current dynamic within the party, do you think that it lends itself to a change in leadership? Uh or do you think that the rank and file are still happy with what they're getting on the Senate and House side?

[00:09:16]>> You know, I think on in our party, I think we would like to see an end to the shutdown. I mean, I think you've got contours of a deal um that could address the ACA subsidies, the cost. I think, you know, we'd be fine putting a cap on who's eligible for those subsidies. You know, the president said those subsidies are being used by undocumented. If you want to write that into a piece of legislation, let's write in that none of these subsidies can use be used for folks that are not here legally. Um, so I think we're getting there, but you know, um, what comes next, we'll see.

[00:09:51]>> Jeffree stays, Schumer stays, as far as you know.

[00:09:54]>> I mean, right now they're um leading us through this, so I I don't see any threat to either one of them.

[00:09:59]>> I got to tell you, I don't know about politically, but in terms of personally, I think you're winning the shutdown.

[00:10:03]Look how tan you are. You're making me and Paulina look and Paulina look like ghosts. You know, you better get back to work, homie. I mean, you know, you got to >> I'll be back in DC next week.

[00:10:13]>> All right. Thank you. It'd be nice for you guys to do something on that. APL, thank you very much for talking to us about the transparency and the state of play. Uh, thank you. Always good to have you on the show. And Mr. Barry, you are always [laughter] >> too late.

[00:10:26]>> And as this fuels new speculation of a larger CIA cover up, I am now joined by Gerald Pner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of JFK. Gerald, appreciate you being here and taking the time tonight. And we see some uh claiming these new documents further tie the CIA to Lee Harvey Oswald. Do you agree with that?

[00:10:47]>> You know, and then Tasha, I don't. And the interesting thing is it's not just the, you know, fringe conspiracy people, let's say, on X who are saying, by the way, these new documents tie the CIA into uh Oswald and possibly therefore into the assassination. U it's the head of the committee of the oversight committee you mentioned, Representative Luna. uh you know she believes that these documents reinforce her theory that Oswald was a psy and that there were multiple shooters. In addition uh the it's been in Axios and the Washington Post recently ran a story that said that it was proof that the CIA had in fact been monitoring or following Oswald before the assassination. And the unfortunate part of that is as you well know most people just read the headline they get the summary and then they move on. They don't look at the actual documents that were released. I've been wanting these documents released on Joe and Needes since 2003 when I signed a public letter with Norman Mailor and G.

[00:11:43]Robert Blakeley and Jefferson Morty and other people seeking information on him to see whether in fact he did play any role in following Oswald or having a quote operation Oswald. It turns out we've waited all this time. The CIA is to be damned for having held on to them for so long to try to protect its own bureaucratic reputation. But in the end the documents really show nothing in terms they don't mention Oswald they don't have an operation they don't show that Joe and he's in the wrong city he's in Miami he's doing the Miami end of the anti-Castro Cubans not doing it in New Orleans where Oswald >> Wow okay so this CIA officer at Joanites was tapped to be the CIA's liaison with the house select committee on assassinations in 1978 he never shared his undercover actions with anti-Castro groups does that at all prove the CIA has been withholding information from the beginning.

[00:12:33]>> There's no question the CIA has been withholding information from the beginning. The tough part and I condemn them. You know, in a book I wrote in 1993 called Case Closed. I said there was always a cover up by the CIA. They tried to cover up their own reputation that they were trying to kill a head of state, not Kennedy, but Castro together with the mafia and they were protective of those cold war secrets. It's disgraceful that they had Joe and as the alaison between the agency and the House Select Committee on assassination. Joe, as you said, didn't tell anyone, nor did the CIA. But people think immediately that must be the cover up of an assassination plot to kill Kennedy. No, it's typically what the CIA does, which is try to protect itself. And this, I think, is something they've done far too long. They took 22 years, Natasha, after I first asked for these documents in a public form to release them.

[00:13:23]Representative Luna is to be given credit for finally getting them in the public. But what is not being correct is that instead of being accurately looked at in terms of history and what they say, they're being given a spin to fit into old what I call retreaded conspiracy theories that just aren't supported by what's now available.

[00:13:42]>> So, we know that the CIA was monitoring Oswald for years ahead of the assassination. In your mind, is that just normal surveillance or is there anything deeper or more sinister there?

[00:13:51]>> Well, I I would have said that they should be prosecuted for, you know, malfeasants and absolutely comp incompetence and negligence if they hadn't been looking at Oswald. He defected to the Soviet Union as a former Marine in 1959 and it was in the newspapers. So, they did start a file at that time on him because he was a defector of the Soviet Union. Then he works his way back after he hates the Soviet Union, gets back to America in 1961. And at that point, they open what they call a 2011 file on him and that's basically a collection of news clippings and other things when he's appearing and doing things in the US. There's no active intelligence program on him. He does come back though, Natasha, on their radar big time, just about 8 weeks before the assassination, 6 weeks before when he goes to Mexico City and tries to get down to Cuba because he wants to join the real revolution. and the Soviets and the Cubans turn him away. At that point, he's on the CIA radar in a larger way.

[00:14:45]>> Okay, I appreciate the context and the time. Gerald Pner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of JFK, thank you for joining us tonight.

[00:14:54]>> Thanks, Natasha.

[00:14:57]>> All right, everyone is accusing the Trump administration right now of not being transparent, but there is work being done. Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican, has been fighting for transparency when it comes to UAPs, but also on the JFK assassination. She's got new information that claims that the CIA engaged in the cover up, lied to Congress about their association with Lee Harvey Oswald. She is here to explain. Representative, thank you for making the time. What do people need to know?

[00:15:27]>> Hey, Chris. So, this was probably one of the biggest breaks in the JFK assassination in the last 60 years. A lot of people will say that this is largely contributing to the mosaic that's been put together that the CIA did indeed engage in a cover- up. So, there's something released by the CIA.

[00:15:43]So, kudos to Director Radcliffe called the Joe Files. And what the Joe's files revealed is that Oswald was indeed in um in contact in many ways and being observed by the CIA in the weeks leading up to the assassination of JFK. So, it proves the uh disproves the lone gunman theory. Also, in addition to that, um Joe Nides was actually using a cover name, lied to Congress about it, and then was the go-between between the congressional investigations and the CIA. And so, he was intentionally stonewalling the uh investigations pertaining to the JFK assassination. And then in the personnel file that we had pinned was actually then later on awarded a basically an award by the CIA for um intentionally stonewalling these investigations. So, what I will tell you, Chris, is not only do we have admissions from a witness that stated that when Kennedy was brought to the hospital that he was shot from both the front and the back, meaning there were multiple shooters, we also have now evidence that the CIA lied, undermined, and intentionally um gave Congress false information. And in addition to that, we have proof that the Warren Commission omitted evidence. And so everything that we've had basically uh the ability to research in the last couple of months pertaining to JFK does prove that the uh federal government rogue factions within the CIA engaged in a coverup of the assassination. And not just that, Chris, I guess I'll break it here first. Um, we have obtained information that the previously hidden files that the KGB actually had on um, JFK will be released sometime in the fall time period for the American people to go through themselves. And actually, I've been told that the KGB had actually observed Oswald in Russia when he was there as a citizen and he was actually not a good shot. And this is not also the only piece of information that we have. We actually have multiple witnesses that stated to the Warren Commission um and different investigators that Lee Harvey Oswald was not seen in the book depository. So, as you're seeing the uh ravel on who exactly shot JFK and the whole story that was the official narrative has been blown to pieces within the last week.

[00:17:48]>> Good for you, Luna. I look forward to it. How did the United States get KGB files?

[00:17:56]Well, um, that's really something that the Russian government was in charge of releasing and so I'm sure that you'll see that information coming out here pretty soon. But actually back in the '9s during one of the in uh third investigations actually into JFK and Congress had actually reached out to the Russian government for those files and unfortunately they were not able to obtain them and now there is some level of um open communication and so as a result of that that information will now be available in the coming months to the American people and also to JFK researchers. So from a historical standpoint, what I've also been told is that shortly after the assassination of Kennedy, actually at the funeral, the Russian government did hand over documents to um the American government and we were not able to obtain those documents in our request. So I do believe that those documents were destroyed.

[00:18:50]>> Oh, very interesting. Well, when this disclosure is made, we'll we'll get into what isn't there and why and how we vet what the KGB offers cuz obviously they'd love to get us mad at ourselves. Uh that only serves their interest. But Anna Paulina Luna, thank you for doing the work of the people and getting them transparency on these uh big matters from our past.

[00:19:10]>> Thank you very much.

[00:19:12]>> I appreciate you. Thank you for coming on on short notice. Thank you for watching. Subscribe below and download our NewsNation app right now on your phone and you will get fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans.

[00:19:37][music]