Fact check: False claim CIA 'admitted' to assassinating John F. Kennedy

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY

January 19, 2023 at 5:09 AM·4 min read

The claim: Video shows CIA 'admitted' to killing JFK

A Jan. 10 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of a video that features Bill Cooper, a well-known conspiracy theorist, talking about the death of President John F. Kennedy.

"They viewed President Kennedy as a security threat," Cooper asserts in the video. "I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the documentation clearly said that the assassin was the driver in the car in which he was riding in Dallas on that day."

The on-screen text in the video reads, "The CIA admitted killing JFK."

The video was shared more than 4,000 times in three days in a post that has since been deleted. The followup Jan. 10 post is from the same user and consists of screenshots of the prior post.

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Our rating: False

The video is miscaptioned. It does show Cooper discussing a conspiracy theory related to Kennedy's assassination, but nobody in the video makes the claim that the CIA admitted to killing Kennedy.

Warren Commission found Kennedy's assassin 'acted alone'

Kennedy was assassinated shortly after noon on Nov. 22, 1963, as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. Kennedy was shot in the neck and head as the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository. Texas Governor John Connally, who was also in the car with Kennedy, was shot in the back, but survived.

A week later, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed what would come to be known as the Warren Commission – named after its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren – to investigate Kennedy's assassination.

In this Nov. 23, 1963 file photo, Lee Harvey Oswald is led down a corridor of the Dallas police station for another round of questioning in connection with the assassination of U.S., President John F. Kennedy. Oswald, who denied any involvement in the shooting, was formally charged with murder.

The commission presented its report to Johnson on Sept. 24, 1964, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot Kennedy, acted alone and that there is no credible evidence he was part of a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.

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Despite the evidence, Kennedy's assassination has long been fodder for conspiracy theorists.

In the video, Cooper, the man being interviewed, lists several government agencies, including the CIA, he claims were involved in a plot to kill Kennedy. He never asserts, however, that the CIA publicly admitted involvement.

“These claims are utterly false and absurd," Tammy Thorp, a CIA spokesperson, told USA TODAY.

Cooper's book, "Behold a Pale Horse," published in 1991, and shortwave radio shows provided him with "a rabid following among UFO buffs, prisoners and the militia movement," according to the Arizona Republic.

Cooper was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy on Nov. 5, 2001, outside his Arizona home as authorities attempted to arrest him on charges that arose out of disputes with local residents.

In December, President Joe Biden released a cache of once-classified documents related to Kennedy's assassination. Those documents included a "personality" file for Oswald that the CIA maintained before and after Kennedy's death, according to Politico. But there are no references in the documents to a CIA plot to kill Kennedy.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the post for comment.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.