Latest news with #JohnF.KennedyJr.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Does the Cast of "American Love Story" Compare to Their Real-Life Counterparts?
Famed couple John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy are the latest cultural icons to have their lives reimagined by Hollywood writer, director, and producer Ryan Murphy. Announced by FX in 2021, American Love Story is a scripted series that will chronicle the courtship, marriage, and tragic deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn, who were widely regarded as American royalty during the 1990s. The series will explore the pressures of their high-profile careers, family tensions, and the relentless tabloid scrutiny that ultimately overshadowed their private lives. Filming began in June 2025, with the show set to premiere in February 2026, timed to coincide with Valentine's Day. Here's a closer look at the cast, who bring an uncanny resemblance to the real life figures who played a part in the Kennedy couple's Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Sarah Pidgeon is a 29-year-old actress best known for her breakout role in The Wilds and her acclaimed performance in Hulu's Tiny Beautiful Things. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she made her Broadway debut in Stereophonic, earning a Tony nomination for her role. Her Instagram is @sarah__pidgeon. She will play Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, a Calvin Klein publicist and wife of John F. Kennedy Jr. Born in 1966, Carolyn married Kennedy in a secret ceremony in 1996. Tragically, she died alongside her husband and sister, Lauren Bessette, in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in 1999, at the age of Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. Paul Kelly is a rising actor and model set to make his major screen debut as John F. Kennedy Jr. in American Love Story. Though new to TV, he has appeared in theater and modeled for brands like Bonobos and John Varvatos. His Instagram is @ofishalpak. Kelly will play John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of President JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Besides being a lawyer and journalist, he co-founded George magazine. He dated everyone from Christie Brinkley to Sarah Jessica Parker before marrying Carolyn Bessette. Tragically, he died in a plane crash in 1999 at age Gummer as Caroline Kennedy Grace Gummer is a 39-year-old actress and the daughter of Meryl Streep. She's known for roles in TV shows like The Newsroom, Mr. Robot, and American Horror Story. Gummer will play Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She graduated from Radcliffe College and earned a law degree from Columbia University. She married artist Edwin Schlossberg in 1986, and they have three children: Rose, Tatiana, and Jack. She has served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan and to Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Naomi Watts is a 56-year-old British-Australian actress known for her roles in films like Mulholland Drive, The Ring, and 21 Grams. Watts has earned multiple award nominations, including two Academy Awards. Her Instagram is @naomiwatts. Jackie Kennedy was the First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963 as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. She led the restoration of the White House, promoted American arts and culture, and helped preserve historic landmarks. After JFK's assassination, she maintained a low public profile and later worked as a book editor. She died from cancer at the age of 64, and never met Carolyn Hemingway as Daryl Hannah Dree Hemingway is an American model and actress known for her work with major fashion brands and appearances in films like Starlet and While We're Young. She is the great-granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway. Her Instagram is @dreelouisehemingway. She will play Daryl Hannah, a 64-year-old actress and filmmaker who was dating JFK Jr. when he met Carolyn Bessette. Hannah gained fame for her roles in Blade Runner (1982) and Splash (1984), and later portrayed Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series. She married musician Neil Young in Lemmon as Lauren Bessette Sydney Lemmon is a 35-year-old actress known for her role as Ana Helstrom in the Hulu series Helstrom and appearances in Fear the Walking Dead and Succession. She holds degrees from Boston University and Yale, and has performed on Broadway, including in the play Job. She is also the granddaughter of actor Jack Lemmon. Her Instagram is @Sydney_lemmon. Lemmon will play Lauren Bessette, a Morgan Stanley executive and the sister of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. She died in a 1999 plane crash with Carolyn and John F. Kennedy Jr. near Martha's Nivola as Calvin Klein Alessandro Nivola is an American actor known for roles in American Hustle, Jurassic Park III, and The Many Saints of Newark. A Yale graduate, he has also appeared on Broadway and co-founded King Bee Productions with his wife, Emily Mortimer. His son Sam Nivola recently starred in The White Lotus season three. His Instagram is @ He will play Calvin Klein, an influential American fashion designer who founded his brand in 1968. Known for popularizing designer jeans and underwear, Klein's work helped define modern American style. Carolyn Bessette worked as a publicist for his K. Chancellor as Gordon Henderson Omari K. Chancellor is a New York–based actor and graduate of NYU's Tisch MFA program. He has appeared in The Greatest Beer Run Ever and Why Women Kill. His Instagram is @omari_k. He will play Gordon Henderson, a close friend of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and a designer who helped plan her wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr. He designed JFK Jr.'s suit and assisted Carolyn into her gown on the wedding day. You Might Also Like 4 Investment-Worthy Skincare Finds From Sephora The 17 Best Retinol Creams Worth Adding to Your Skin Care Routine Solve the daily Crossword
Hypebeast
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Ryan Murphy Reveals First Look Images at Upcoming FX Series 'American Love Story'
Summary Ryan Murphyis expanding his acclaimedAmerican Storyanthology universe, and the first captivating images from the inaugural season ofAmerican Love Story, focusing on the iconic and ultimately tragic romance of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, have just been released. Shared by Murphy himself via social media, these initial glimpses offer a compelling preview of the series set to premiere during February 2026. The anticipation forAmerican Love Storyhas been palpable since its announcement, promising to delve into the whirlwind courtship, marriage, and untimely deaths of the couple often regarded as American royalty. The newly revealed 'camera test' photos are already drawing significant attention for their striking fidelity to the beloved '90s figures. Leading the cast as the ill-fated couple are newcomer Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette. The first-look images were revealed on Instagram, which include both still photos and brief costume test footage, immediately showcase the remarkable resemblance of the actors to their real-life counterparts. The series is poised to explore the pressures of their highly scrutinized relationship under the relentless media spotlight, alongside the demands of their individual careers and rumored family discord. The narrative will lead to their tragic demise in the 1999 plane crash. Adding further star power to the ensemble, the series also features Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy. Other notable cast members include Alessandro Nivola as fashion mogul Calvin Klein and Leila George as his wife, Kelly Klein, further populating the world of '90s elite society. Filming has recently commenced in New York City and the series is expected to release on Valentine's Week next year.
Politico
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The MAGA split over Israel
Presented by Housing For US NOT SO SPECIAL — Israel's early-morning strikes targeting Iran have supercharged a debate that has been simmering for years on the MAGA right: Is America's 'special relationship' with Israel consistent with the realist principles of an 'America First' foreign policy? The clash — which is taking place between two powerful factions of the MAGA movement — is unfolding primarily at an ideological level, but its consequences are far from academic. As the U.S. and Israel weigh their response to retaliatory strikes from Iran, the position that the Trump administration eventually adopts in this intra-conservative skirmish will almost certainly shape its involvement in the next stages of conflict — and, by extension, the long-term trajectory of the Middle East. For now, the contours of the debate are straightforward, even if the politics surrounding them are far from it. Since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, America has treated Israel as first among equals in the universe of American allies, offering the Middle Eastern country extensive diplomatic, military and economic support. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy Jr. coined the term 'special relationship' to describe the unusually close partnership between the two states, noting that the extent of the U.S.'s ties to Israel is 'really comparable only to that which it has with Britain over a wide range of world affairs.' Since then, the unique status of the relationship has garnered broad bipartisan support, illustrated most recently by President Joe Biden's offer of 'rock-solid and unwavering support' to Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. But the re-emergence of 'America First' foreign policy thinking under Trump has posed a fundamental challenge to the ideological underpinnings of the special relationship. In the eyes of America First hardliners, U.S. foreign policy should limit American involvement in foreign conflicts to those that have direct bearing on U.S. interests — and, in particular, to the interests of the 'forgotten Americans' that Trump has claimed as his base since 2016. That re-framing of the foreign policy discussion has inevitably raised questions on the right about the U.S.-Israel alliance: If the relationship between the two nations is 'special' — which is to say, grounded in an unchanging transnational bond — is it really based on cool-headed calculations of self interest? Are the interests of Israel always coextensive with the interests of the U.S.? Questions like these have been quietly swirling within the MAGA coalition since Trump's ascent in 2016, kept below the surface by the widespread perception that publicly breaking with Israel — especially following the Oct. 7 attacks — remains politically suicidal within the mainstream GOP. Yet there have been signs of a subtle rethinking of the relationship on the MAGA right. In May 2024, then-Sen. JD Vance, a leading proponent of foreign policy restraint within the GOP, gave a speech defending the U.S. relationship with Israel within the America First framework — a tacit admission that abstract invocations of the special relationship no longer carry much weight in the populist right's new foreign policy paradigm. Then earlier this year, the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation — widely considered the intellectual barometer of Beltway conservatism — published a report calling on the U.S. to 're-orient its relationship with Israel' from a special relationship 'to an equal strategic partnership' based on mutual interests. But the debate has taken on new urgency as Israel has escalated its attacks on Iran. In the lead-up to the strikes this week, several prominent figures on the nationalist-populist right — including Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jack Posobiec and Curt Mills, the editor of paleoconservative magazine The American Conservative — spearheaded a campaign to persuade Trump to keep America out of the conflict by appealing to the America First framework. In the aftermath of the strikes, some of those same figures confronted the contradiction between America First and the special relationship more directly. On a live-stream Thursday night, Kirk — while assuring his audience that he remains 'very pro-Israel' — wondered aloud: 'The question is also, I think fundamentally at its core: How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda … stay consistent with this right now?' In a post this morning, Carlson made the argument even more forcefully, arguing that 'regardless of what our 'special ally' says, a fight with the Iranians has nothing to offer the United States.' He added: 'Drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars.' Notably, the schism has taken on something of a generational character. In general, young conservatives like Kirk and Mills are making the case that America First foreign policy requires revising the special relationship with Israel, while older conservatives are tending to defend the status quo. 'There is no appetite among the Gen Z MAGA cohort for war with Iran,' said Nick Solheim, the 28-year-old CEO of the conservative talent network American Moment. 'There is definitely a fear among the MAGA youth in D.C. that the Israeli strikes have the potential to drag us into yet another extended conflict in the Middle East — and America First foreign policy is the bulwark against that.' In the eyes of this younger generation, a more arms-length posture toward Israel's latest strikes on Iran is merely a natural extension of Trump's broader foreign policy vision. 'The president was unambiguous about his preference for diplomacy to resolve the tensions with Iran,' said Solheim, referring to Trump's earlier comments about the conflict. 'Our talent network knows what's been obvious for the last 10 years, ever since he trashed the Iraq War on the Republican primary debate stage — President Trump is the No New Wars President.' That position, in turn, has drawn fire from conservative supporters of Israel, who argue that the maintenance of the 'special relationship' remains an integral part of Trump's foreign policy. 'The demand that [Trump] abandon [Israel] is not MAGA. It's isolationist, which he has never been,' wrote Mark Levin, the conservative talk-radio host who has lobbied the White House to support strikes on Iran, on social media on Thursday. 'For crying out loud, don't accuse him of abandoning MAGA by projecting your own isolationism onto him. He's upholding a crucially important campaign promise.' The politics around the debate are complicated by two additional factors. The first is that the anti-Israel position on the right has long been occupied by conservatives who openly embrace antisemitism — meaning that populist conservatives who forcefully criticize the special relationship risk aligning themselves with politically toxic figures. Today, for instance, the most vocal critic of Israel on the right remains Nick Fuentes, the openly white nationalist commentator who has called for the execution of 'perfidious Jews' and other non-Christian groups. Despite an infamous dinner with Trump in 2022, Fuentes remains persona non grata on much of the mainstream right, making him an unattractive ally for populist conservatives trying to make a principled case for a revision of the special relationship. The second factor is, of course, Trump himself. Despite both sides' claims that they are following Trump's true foreign policy vision, the president himself has been characteristically ambiguous about his view of the special relationship. Today, Trump publicly affirmed his stalwart support for Israel, telling CNN: 'We of course support Israel, obviously, and supported it like nobody has ever supported it.' But in the past, Trump has offered some unusually pointed criticisms of Israel's leadership, suggesting that he sees limits to the special relationship. The direction of the debate will hinge in large part on the actions of the next few days. If the U.S. avoids getting drawn deeper into the conflict — even as Iran carries out retaliatory strikes against Israel — the populists can claim limited victory. If the U.S. becomes more involved in a conflict — by aiding further escalation, or if Iran directly targets U.S. military installations in the Middle East — the hawks will claim vindication. In the meantime, the debate is giving rise to a familiar scene on the MAGA right: Two factions of the movement duking it out in an ideological battle that Trump has no appetite to engage in. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at iward@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @ianwardreports. What'd I Miss? — U.S. moves warships closer to Israel: The Pentagon is moving two destroyers toward the Eastern Mediterranean as Israel braces for a retaliatory attack from Tehran after today's airstrikes on Iranian military targets. The ships, which are capable of defending against ballistic and cruise missile attacks, were already in the region and are rerouting, said two U.S. defense officials granted anonymity to discuss the situation. — Trump embraces Israel after 'successful' Iran attack: President Donald Trump signaled there is no daylight between the United States and Israel after it launched an attack on Iran late Thursday, killing multiple high-ranking military leaders and targeting Iran's nuclear and long-range missile capabilities. Trump repeatedly praised the attack as 'successful' in a media blitz today, and urged Iran to agree to a deal with the U.S. to shutter its nuclear program. — Oil prices soar after Israel's attack on Iran: Israel's attack on Iran has President Donald Trump facing the prospect of the same economic nightmare that helped unravel Joe Biden's presidency — rapidly spiking energy prices triggered by a war outside his control. The series of airstrikes that began Thursday night caused the world benchmark oil price to jump to $73 a barrel as of noon Eastern time today, up $8 since early Wednesday, with the promise of more price hikes to come if the fighting spreads. Energy analysts said the price could shoot to $100 a barrel — a level not seen since the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — if the conflict widens and interrupts oil shipments from the Middle East. No matter how the fighting unfolds, it promises to increase prices at American gasoline pumps just as voters' natural gas and electricity bills are already set to rise. — Second judge blocks most of Trump's executive order on elections: A federal judge today blocked key provisions of President Donald Trump's executive order that sought to make it harder to register to vote in federal elections, including a requirement for voters to prove their citizenship. Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Denise Casper wrote in the ruling that the Constitution gives the power to regulate elections to Congress, adding that lawmakers have not passed any laws that authorize Trump's actions or otherwise delegate their authority to the president. — Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human trafficking charges: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national illegally deported by the Trump administration in March, pleaded not guilty today to human trafficking charges that federal prosecutors leveled upon his return to the United States. One of Abrego Garcia's defense attorneys, William Allensworth, entered the not guilty plea on his client's behalf at a federal court hearing expected to focus on whether Abrego Garcia should be detained pending trial on the two felony criminal charges he faces related to immigrant smuggling. AROUND THE WORLD HIGH SEAS TREATY — The race to save the world's oceans is on. The United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice, France ended today with promises from world leaders to ratify a global, binding agreement to help protect the world's oceans by September — paving the way for the world's very first Conference of the Parties for a High Seas Treaty next year. 'This is a considerable victory,' said French Oceans Ambassador Olivier Poivre d'Arvor in a press conference today. 'It's very difficult to work on oceans right now when the United States have withdrawn from almost everything. But the Argentinian president helped a lot. China [promised to ratify]. Indonesia just ratified a few hours ago. So, we won.' If that happens, it will have been a long time coming. The negotiating process started 20 years ago and the treaty was adopted in 2023, but countries have been slow to ratify and at least 60 must do so for the treaty to come into force. With marine and coastal ecosystems facing multiple threats from climate change, fishing, and pollution, the treaty's main aim is to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which make up around two thirds of the ocean. But if getting 60 countries to ratify a treaty they already endorsed was hard, deciding which parts of the world's international waters to protect from overfishing — and how — won't be much easier. SPANISH SCANDAL — Corruption scandals rocking Spain's governing Socialist Party spell trouble for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — but they're being celebrated by the country's far-right Vox party. The ultranationalist group, which campaigns on the principle that Spain's democratic system is rotten, on Thursday said it was vindicated by news reports revealing that organized crime investigators had evidence connecting the Socialist Party's third-highest ranking member, Santos Cerdán, with taking kickbacks. As right-wing parties have surged in elections around Europe — from Romania to Portugal to Poland — Vox has been consistently rising in Spanish polls since last fall, attracting particular support among potential voters aged 18 to 44. It grabbed the opportunity to hammer Sánchez and his socialists. THE PUTIN EFFECT — The Baltic countries signed a deal pledging to jointly plan for mass evacuations today as the specter of bellicose Russian President Vladimir Putin looms over the region. The interior ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia committed to develop joint mass evacuation plans, streamline information exchange and ensure vulnerable groups are not left behind during evacuations. Data will be shared on evacuation capacity, possible evacuation corridors and the status of key border crossings, as fears grow over the security situation in the Baltic region as Putin continues to wage war on Ukraine. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP DOWN AND DIRTY — There's a new semi-sport that's finding purchase around the country that's deceptively simple — it's called CarJitsu, and it's what it sounds like: JiuJitsu that takes place entirely inside a car. The sport, which is already legal to bet on in New Jersey, takes premiere athletes from JiuJitsu competitions and puts them inside a hard interior that restricts their movement. And it gets brutal quickly. In a photo essay for The Baffler, Tristan deBrauwere depicts the intensity in photos with accompanying words from Adrian Nathan West. Parting Image Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As Trump takes aim at international students, these colleges have the most to lose
Since President Trump returned to office, some of the most aggressive actions taken by his administration have centered around two issues: immigration and higher education. He has launched a nationwide mass deportation program that has defied courts and stretched the bounds of his constitutional authority. He has also targeted some of the nation's most prestigious colleges, revoking billions of dollars in federal funding while trying to strong-arm them into overhauling how they operate. Students who have come to the United States for college have found themselves at the center of both of these ongoing ideological battles, forced to deal with the whiplash of changing policies, a barrage of court orders and rampant uncertainty about whether they'll be able to continue their education in this country. In the past few months, more than 1,800 international students attending nearly 300 universities have had their visas revoked by the State Department — only to see that decision abruptly reversed. Multiple foreign students have been detained for weeks by immigration authorities because of their political activities. The administration has tried to revoke Harvard's right to host international students but has so far been blocked by a court order. On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered U.S. embassies worldwide to pause visa interviews for prospective students. It's unclear how long that pause might be in effect or how the administration's new procedures might affect the number of international students who end up coming to the U.S. next year. What is certain is that America's longstanding position as a coveted destination for scholars from around the world has been upended. Students from other nations have been coming to study at American universities for more than 100 years, and their numbers have steadily grown over the course of the past century. During the 2023-24 school year, the U.S. was the top academic destination in the world, with a record-setting 1.1 million foreign students attending American colleges, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE). A number of past presidents have viewed international exchange programs as a way to build strong relationships with other nations. They understood that the 'best and brightest' students from all over the world would likely grow up to have great influence in their home nations and instilling them with a positive view of the United States could help with future diplomacy. 'We know that some other president, in other days, will be greeting you as either the prime ministers or the presidents or the first ladies of significant countries,' then-President John F. Kennedy Jr. told a group of foreign students in 1962. 'And I hope when you do that, you will say that you were at the White House once before.' As their numbers have grown, foreign students have also become increasingly important economically, both to the schools they attend and the surrounding communities. Last year, international students were responsible for adding $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy and supported nearly 400,000 American jobs, according to estimates from the international education group NAFSA. The number of international students in the United States has nearly doubled over the past two decades, in large part because of their financial value to schools in the wake of the Great Recession. 'When particularly public colleges and state budgets were being cut, you could actually see how declines in state dollars going to colleges were being made up for with foreign enrollments. Those tuition dollars are pretty important to keeping the lights on,' Carolyn Beeler, a reporter for Inside Higher Ed, said in an interview with The World radio network last year. Many foreign students pay significantly more in tuition and fees than locals do. They are also far less likely to rely on financial aid or scholarships. Roughly 80% of international students cover the cost of attending college in the U.S. entirely on their own, which helps schools funnel more money to their American students. 'There's this perception that international students are coming here and that we are paying as Americans, and we're subsidizing them. But the fact is, it's really the reverse,' Beeler told The World. Hundreds of universities across the country have international students on their campuses, but they are especially important to some of the nation's most prestigious colleges. New York University had more than 27,000 foreign students enrolled during the last academic year, by far the most of any school. Elite schools in the Northeast and the West Coast also rank in the top 10 for foreign student enrollment, along with a few top-flight schools in the middle of the country. While foreign students are important wherever they attend, they are especially valuable in the places that they flock to in the highest numbers. California and New York, the top two states for international enrollment, both saw more than $6 billion in economic impact and over 50,000 jobs supported by visiting students during the last academic year, according to NAFSA data. There is already some evidence that international enrollment may have dipped significantly for the current academic year, which started during the final months of the Biden administration. It's too early to know how big of an impact the Trump administration's policies will have on the number of students who both choose to and are allowed to come to the United States for their education. The next school year doesn't start for a few months, and there will undoubtedly be new developments, court rulings and changes to official procedures between now and then.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: No, JFK Jr. did not call Biden a 'traitor' in newly released JFK assassination files
Claim: A JFK assassination file declassified in March 2025 contained a letter in which John F. Kennedy Jr. called then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden a "traitor." Rating: On March 18, 2025, the U.S. government released a significant collection of documents related to former President John F. Kennedy's assassination, following a Jan. 23 executive order by President Donald Trump. Shortly after the release, social media users claimed one of the newly declassified records included a letter in which the former president's son John F. Kennedy Jr. — who died in a plane crash in 1999 — once called former President Joe Biden a "traitor." "Did JFK Jr. warn us that Joe Biden was a traitor to America before he was killed!?" read one post (archived) on X with nearly 10 million views. The screenshot of a document also circulated on other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, YouTube, iFunny and 9GAG. However, there was no evidence that John F. Kennedy Jr. authored a letter calling Biden a traitor. While the FBI did investigate a threatening letter sent to Biden — then a U.S. senator — signed "John F. Kennedy, Jr.," the agency did not identify the actual author, nor did it indicate that Kennedy wrote it. Furthermore, contrary to claims made in viral posts, the document in question was actually released in 2000, decades before the March 2025 release of JFK assassination files. We found no evidence or indication that it was included in that 2025 release. The letter originated from an FBI file The Associated Press obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2000. A June 20, 2000, Associated Press article, available through the Los Angeles Times archives, reported that the FBI records showed John F. Kennedy Jr. faced at least three kidnapping threats, with two plots investigated in 1985 and 1995. One FBI report focused on a letter postmarked Aug. 26, 1994, that was sent to Biden. According to the article, "The handwriting was analyzed. Fingerprints were lifted from the letter. But no suspects were identified, and the case was closed at the end of 1994." The topic was also covered at the time by CBS News. The letter was part of a file (from Page 153) shared on The Vault, the FBI's electronic FOIA library, which provides public access to a vast collection of declassified FBI documents. Specifically, the letter was featured on Page 155: (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) It included a reference line that read: "UNSUB; AKA JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.; SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN – VICTIM; WORCESTER, MA; AUGUST 26, 1994." The use of "UNSUB," meaning unknown subject, and "aka John F. Kennedy, Jr." indicated that the sender's identity was not confirmed, and the name was likely used as an alias. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) The document also noted that the letter bore a handwritten or hand-printed address reading: "Sen. Joseph Biden, (D.-Delaware) U.S. Capitol Building U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20515." The letter itself was dated Aug. 26, 1994, began with the line "Dear Sen. Biden: You are a traitor …," and was signed "John F. Kennedy Jr." In the "Remarks" section on Page 162, the document said the envelope and letter were "searched in the appropriate sections of the Anonymous Letter File without effecting an identification," indicating that investigators were unable to determine who had sent it. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) Moreover, on Page 179, the document noted that "although four latent fingerprints were developed by the laboratory, there are no suspects at this time wherein latent comparisons can be made," indicating that investigators had no identified suspect to compare the prints against. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) Other fact-checking organizations, including LeadStories, Agence France-Presse and PolitiFact, also have debunked this claim in the past. Steven Gillon, a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and the author of a biography of John F. Kennedy Jr., told AFP in March 2025 that it "absolutely it is a hoax," adding: "John never wrote that letter. But that does not stop the conspiracy nuts from waving it around to undermine Biden's credibility." Similarly, in 2020, Gillon told PolitiFact that "the FBI dismissed [the letter] as a hoax" and "they did not believe that John wrote it." We've investigated other claims regarding John F. Kennedy Jr., including a rumor that he wrote in 1999 that Donald Trump "would be an unstoppable force for ultimate justice" and that he was a front-runner for a U.S. Senate seat from New York shortly before his death. Czopek, Madison. "JFK Jr. Didn't Write That Joe Biden Was 'a Traitor.'" @politifact, Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. "Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." The White House, 23 Jan. 2025, Definition of UNSUB. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. Evon, Dan. "Did JFK Jr. Write in 1999 That Trump 'Would Be an Unstoppable Force for Ultimate Justice'?" Snopes, 23 July 2018, Fact Check: FBI File Does NOT Suggest 1994 Threat Letter To Joe Biden Was Written By JFK Jr. | Lead Stories. 23 Dec. 2022, FBI Reveals 3 Kidnap Threats on JFK Jr. | The Seattle Times. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. "JFK Assassination Records - 2025 Documents Release." National Archives, 17 Mar. 2025, "Joe Biden Named in JFK Files: What to Know." Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025, McCarthy, Bill. "No Proof Biden Plotted Kidnapping of JFK Jr." @politifact, Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. Palma, Bethania. "FACT CHECK: Was JFK Jr. a U.S. Senate Frontrunner Before His 'Suspicious' Plane Crash?" Snopes, 29 Aug. 2016, staff, CBSNews com staff CBSNews com. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000, ---. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000, ---. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000,
