Ayanna Pressley says Trump release of MLK files reflects more sinister attack on Black leadership and history

EXCLUSIVE: The Massachusetts congresswoman reacts to the more than 240,000-page release, which she describes as an attempt to “sully one of our nation’s greatest leaders.”

The Trump administration’s release of the MLK files is being met with skepticism from the family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., advocates, and Democratic elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who told theGrio she believes the abrupt release is part of a more sinister tactic rooted in anti-Blackness.

Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, the last surviving children of MLK, cautioned in a lengthy joint statement that, considering the FBI’s racist and illegal surveillance and misinformation campaign to discredit and “destroy” Dr. King, the public should engage with the recently unsealed files responsibly and with respect for the civil rights leader’s legacy.

“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,” said the King children. “We strongly condemn any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy and the significant achievements of the movement.”

President Donald Trump is being accused of timing the release of the more than 240,000-page MLK files to distract from political pressure to release FBI files related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein–and a bombshell report about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. Following the MLK files release, Bernice King wrote on X, “Now, do the Epstein files.”

Trump, who claimed his unsealing of the MLK files is for the sake of transparency, ironically has dedicated much of his second term to dismantling the civil rights and equity infrastructure of Dr. King’s life work, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, through the implementation of his anti-DEI executive orders.

Congresswoman Pressley said that, coupled with Trump’s targeting of Black leadership, is why she, too, sees the release of the MLK files as part of a more ominous strategy undertaken by the MAGA movement.

“I believe that the work of dismantling and defunding diversity, equity and inclusion began with attacks on Black leadership; whether you’re talking about the targeting of [State Representatives] Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in Tennessee, whether you’re talking about the former president of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, whether you’re talking about the censure of [U.S. Reps.] Al Green and [Ilhan] Omar,” Pressley explained to theGrio.

She continued, “So to attack Dr. King in this way, to seek to sully his reputation, is at the intersection of both their erasure of Black history and their efforts to degrade Black leadership.”

When it comes to undermining Black leadership–and their fight for racial equity–Pressley said Trump and Republicans “stay busy on that.”

“From redistricting in Texas and gerrymandering in Texas all the way to releasing these files, it’s a bait and switch meant to deflect and distract from their own mess and their own failures,” said the Massachusetts congresswoman.

As the King family and civil rights community grapple with the release of the MLK files and its potential consequences, Pressley said Trump is “simultaneously seeking to sully one of our nation’s greatest leaders.”

She added, “An unapologetic Black man who fought for, yes, the equality of all people, but was stridently focused on the dignity and the sanctity of Black lives.”

Similarly, in their joint statement, the King children pointed to the FBI’s COINTELPRO campaign and its intent to dismantle their father’s reputation and the broader Civil Rights Movement.

“These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth – undermining the dignity and freedoms of private citizens who fought for justice, designed to neutralize those who dared to challenge the status quo,” they said.

Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, explained, “It is well-documented that Dr. King was the victim of illegal FBI wiretaps, which were part of a broader campaign aimed at embarrassing and harassing him and undermining the Civil Rights Movement.”

She added, “These illegal tactics were a grave injustice and serve as a painful reminder of the discriminatory practices that targeted civil rights leaders during that era and by an administration that now has made it a mission to unravel civil rights gains.”

The King family urged the public to “continue the work that our father began – building equity, justice, and peace for all,” rather than “repeating the injustices of the past.”

“Now more than ever, we must honor his sacrifice by committing ourselves to the realization of his dream – a society rooted in compassion, unity, and equality,” they said.