Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had some choice words for the president after his attempt to make headlines off her father's legacy.
The Trump Administration recently released documents surrounding the 1968 assassination of Dr. King that are purported to demystify the circumstances surrounding his death.
But the timing is, of course, extremely suspect: The release comes amid the rapidly escalating scandal surrounding Trump's refusal to release the files on Jeffrey Epstein, in which he is said to be named.
It's hard not to see the declassification of documents pertaining to Dr. King's death as an attempt at deflection, and Bernice King was having none of it.
Along with a photo of her father looking deeply exasperated, Bernice King tweeted:
"Now, do the Epstein files."
Trump has made promises to expose the Epstein files a cornerstone of his campaigns, including in 2024.
His supposed efforts to "save the children" from trafficking rings like Epstein's are what underpins many Trump voters' support of him. They were also central to conspiracy theories like QAnon that helped solidify his political base.
Now that Trump is refusing to release them and constantly incriminating himself by urging and then insulting his voters to stop talking about them, self-identified Trump voters have begun turning on him in droves, even as his own allies in the media and government have tried to place the blame on people like Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Many have theorized that the Administration's foot-dragging is an attempt to buy time to redact Trump's name from the files. But now, clips from depositions have begun circulating in which Epstein implicitly incriminates Trump.
Suffice to say even Trump's brainwashed voters aren't buying it (finally, for once), and a rapidly metastasizing scandal has erupted.
The King family have publicly stated they are against the release of the documents regarding Dr. King's assassination, and implied in a statement that Trump's interest in them was to use them as a distraction.
They wrote:
“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods."
Bernice King's take was far more pointed, and people online applauded her for calling Trump out.
The King files are intended to expose the CIA's and "deep state's" involvement in Dr. King's assassination, a theory the King family said in their statement was basically already proven in a 1999 wrongful death civil suit they brought in Tennessee.
All in all, a solid attempt at deflection by Trump, but one that is unlikely to work, even with his own allies. The horse is already out of the barn, and it's galloping at full speed. Best of luck, Mr. President.
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