Ted Cruz's father at center of JFK files frenzy
The father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz participated in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 – this is one of the numerous theories concerning Kennedy's assassination. Documents declassified by Donald Trump led to their renewed dissemination by social media users.
On March 18, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed over 63,000 pages of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Many of these documents were previously accessible but contained redacted sections, which only fueled conspiracy theories. However, it turns out that declassifying the files did not improve the situation.
Conspiracy theories surrounding Cruz's family
One of the theories that gained popularity concerns the father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. According to it, Rafael Cruz was involved in the assassination of Kennedy.
"Why is Ted Cruz's father still free?", "JFK files revealed! The Cruz family disappeared", "I just read the new JFK files published today by President Trump and it turns out Ted Cruz’s father really killed Kennedy!" – these are just some of the numerous posts published on the portal X.
It began during the 2016 presidential campaign, during which Senator Ted Cruz was a challenger to Trump in the bid for the Republican nomination. The American tabloid National Enquirer, supporting Trump, published an article suggesting that Ted Cruz's Father was linked to JFK assassination The basis of the article was a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald, considered Kennedy's assassin, with other people taken in 1963 in New Orleans.
The tabloid, publishing its text, relied on the opinion of a photography expert, Mitch Goldstone, who stated that the unidentified man in the photo resembled Rafael Cruz (a Protestant preacher from Cuba) from his passport photo. Trump quickly used this theory, saying on Fox News: "His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot!" And he added: "I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous."
The FactCheck portal explained that the photos used by the tabloid were of poor quality, making it impossible to definitively state that the man was Rafael Cruz. Furthermore, Goldstone denied in an interview with the portal that he claimed the man in the photo was definitely Rafael Cruz. Additionally, in 2024, during a trial concerning Trump's indictment for falsifying business documents, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker admitted that the tabloid completely fabricated the story about Senator Ted Cruz's father.
Declassified documents and conspiracy theories
Even though the declassified documents do not confirm any conspiracy theories, they reveal many detailed pieces of information about the actions of the CIA and its agents. The Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination, determined in 1964 that Kennedy was killed by Oswald acting alone. However, many people still do not believe this.
Among other conspiracy theories, there are hypotheses about the involvement of the mafia, Fidel Castro's government, or the KGB. Some suggest that the assassination was the result of actions by anti-Castro and anti-communist CIA agents.
Reactions to document declassification
Trump's declassification of the documents sparked a wave of speculation on social media. Users on the portal X published posts suggesting that Rafael Cruz fled the USA just before the release of the files. Ted Cruz himself commented on these reports briefly: "Nothing to see here."
The contents of the declassified documents did not change the Warren Commission's findings, but - as it is evident - they still did not dispel doubts and did not end speculation about Kennedy's assassination.
