Trump announces all records on Amelia Earhart, her final flight, and disappearance will be made public, as one of history’s greatest mysteries continues after 9 decades

President Donald Trump announced Friday(September 26) that he has directed his administration to declassify and publicly release “all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her,” saying the aviator’s disappearance “has captivated millions.” The president announced in a post on his Truth Social account. The request to review any remaining government material about Amelia Earhart followed an appeal from Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the delegate to Congress from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, who earlier this summer asked the president to search for and release documents that could shed light on the aviator’s final hours and whether records tied to the Marianas exist.

His post said,”I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart, such an interesting story, and would I consider declassifying and releasing everything about her, in particular, her last, fatal flight! She was an Aviation Pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved many other Aviation “firsts.” She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the World. Amelia made it almost three-quarters around the World before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again. Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

What happened to Amelia Earhart?

Amelia Earhart vanished in July 1937 while en route from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island during an attempt to fly around the world. Radio transmissions indicated she was running low on fuel; the US Navy and Coast Guard conducted an extensive search but found no trace. The US government’s official position has been that the Electra crashed into the Pacific and the two were lost; Earhart was declared legally dead in 1939. Over the following decades, the case spawned multiple hypotheses, from a crash at sea to landing on Nikumaroro to capture by Japanese forces, and decades of amateur and professional searching.

The White House move comes amid political pressure related to other high-profile records. Earlier this year, the administration ordered the release of large batches of records connected to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and agencies posted thousands of pages in a highly publicized effort to clear redactions.

At the same time, Trump has faced criticism for the handling of files tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. His critics heavily redacted Epstein-related pages that they said referenced high-profile figures, and those disclosures have added pressure on the administration over transparency in other document sets.

In past large releases of historical materials, agencies, including the National Archives, have coordinated reviews to remove or limit unredacted personal identification information and to comply with legal and privacy constraints. The exact timetable for when, or if, additional Earhart files will be published was not announced.