President Donald Trump’s promised release of the JFK assassination files kicked off a flurry of conversation about one set of documents that describes the mysterious circumstances surrounding the supposed suicide of a former CIA agent who accused his agency of orchestrating the shooting.
Within more than 1,100 newly released pages was the story of Gary Underhill, a former agent who fled to a friend’s New Jersey home hours after President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed during a Dallas, Texas parade. Within hours, authorities had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a disgraced former Marine with Soviet connections whom they concluded was the lone gunman.
According to new documents, Underhill was struck with panic as he told his friend how he believed the CIA was involved in the shooting but framed Oswald.
“The day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening he showed up at the home of friends in New Jersey. He was very agitated,” reads an excerpt. “A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and probably would have to leave the country.”
Six months after their encounter, Underhill