Transcript of Will Trump make good on promise to reveal JFK assassination files?

It's time now for a brand new feature on ABC News Live that we are calling The Social Story. Last night, we posted on Instagram and it gave you, obviously, our viewers, a choice of three stories for us to dive into in-depth today. You picked President-elect Trump's promise to release the last files on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It is something that a lot of people want to see more about. Abc's Christian Cadero and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. Join us now for the first ever social story. So thank you both for being a part of it. It's a social experiment, if you will, here at ABC News Live. Christian, let me begin with you. Files from the assassination have trickled out over the years, including under both Trump and Biden presidencies. But There's never been that smoking gun the conspiracy theorists have wanted, so to speak. What have we actually learned these past few years?

Well, it's great to be with you both, Phil, and I feel like I'm part of a little piece of history, too, with the social story. So thanks for that. Let's go Back to the '90s when the federal government required that the collection of over 5 million records be opened by 2017, made public, barring, of course, certain exceptions. We heard during President-elect Trump's first term and first time on the campaign trail, his promise to release them. He released some of them, but withheld some of them as well because of national security concerns from the CIA and the FBI. That trickle that you mentioned continued through the Biden presidency over the past four years, and now we're hearing it amplified again from President-elect Trump saying that he would declassify or release the remaining records, about 3,000 to 4,000 of them. This has, of course, unraveled and amplified conspiracy theories for some people who just find it hard to imagine that one person could have pulled this most famous crime off. If nothing else, when we reach back in history, Phil, it certainly sparks a sense of curiosity that has endured decades now.

Professor Brinkley, first of all, thanks for being here. Your historic knowledge is remarkable. Friday actually marks 61 years since JFK was killed. Clearly, there is still an enormous fascination with this story. I'm curious to get your opinion on this. Why do you think that is?

Well, I've been teaching as a university professor. I started at the US Naval Academy in 1989, and I'm teaching at Rice. I do classes on the Cold War. And all young people, one of the topics they most want to hear about is the Kennedy assassination. Part of it is the Zapruder film, seeing that over and over again. It's footage we all know. Part of it is that we are all getting older, but Jack Kennedy will always be the young President slain in his prime in Dallas. Then the Warren Commission that Lyndon Johnson ordered after the assassination was hastily organized. A lot of its findings hold up, but there were enough gaps and missing puzzle pieces from the Warren Commission that has stoked for decades now of conspiracy theories. It is a Wild West of them on the Internet. Movies like Oliver Stones had Made more people curious. The fact is, there were millions, as we just heard, in the early '90s, all the assassination documents were corralled at the National Archives. Yet there's still 3,000, 4,000 documents that are left, and they're sensitive to the FBI and CIA at the very least about how our country operates.

They've been held back, but I'm positive Trump is going to want to get them all released, and he has Bobby Kennedy Jr. On his side in that regard. The times finally come. Let's see all of it. I'm afraid much of it that we do see in these last ones, you'll get big dark redacted spaces.

I was thinking about Bobby Kennedy Jr. As well. Christian, as you mentioned, President Trump, President-elect Trump, has promised to declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination. It's something he's worked to do and he's wanted to do for years, including his first term. What more can we reasonably expect to learn, especially with, as the professor just said, it's probably going to be heavily redacted.

I'm glad that you and Professor Brinkley brought up the redactions because it's a really important piece of this. Of the 3,000 to 4,000 remaining files, 500 of them are completely withheld. The partially withheld ones are the ones that have redactions. We're talking everything from simple redactions, perhaps a social security number, which understandably would be filled with black, to things like Lee Harvey Oswald's tax returns. Obviously, a lot of questions, especially for those who are not satisfied with the answers that have been provided by the government over the years.

Professor, just quickly before we go, despite the fascination in the conspiracy theories, the simplest explanation is what law enforcement has said all along, that Oswald acted alone. I've heard military experts say there's no way that bolt-action rifle could have done what he did in the amount of time that he did it. But is that really it? Is that the simplest explanation?

Well, the main objective of historians now is just the more documents, the better. A scholar named Mr. Posner a book called Case Closed, and he really does do a great argument showing that Oswald is the misfit acted alone. But they're also wondering if there's a larger conspiracy. Oswald may have been the shooter, but there are all these other circumstances that are strange. And alas, it's not just Oswald's tax returns, but Ruby's Jack Ruby, who then killed Oswald's tax returns, who was Ruby working for? So there's still enough mysteries around Dallas to make this an epic moment when the Trump administration releases all these this spring.

There you go. That's our social story. Professor Douglas Brinkley and ABC's Christian Cordero, thank you both so much for being here on the inaugural version of it.