By Nandita Bose
(Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Friday said he is ordering the declassification and release of all U.S. government records related to the disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, who vanished while attempting a round-the-world flight in 1937.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the mystery surrounding Earhart's final flight 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," Trump said.
Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, vanished over the Pacific Ocean with navigator Fred Noonan. Despite extensive searches and decades of speculation, no definitive trace of the aircraft was ever found.
Trump's sudden focus on the decades-old mystery comes as he faces growing criticism for withholding documents related to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has dragged his feet on fully releasing the Epstein files, turning the issue into a growing political liability. Though he has urged his supporters to move on from the topic, appetite for details about Epstein's crimes and who else may have known about them or been involved with him has remained high.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department released a "first phase" of Epstein‑related records, but much of the material was already public or heavily redacted.
Trump has acknowledged knowing Epstein socially but claims they had a falling-out years before Epstein's death in jail in 2019.
Just hours before Trump's post, House Democrats announced they had uncovered more Epstein-related records that mention billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
Trump has previously ordered the release of other classified government records, including large batches of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Nandita Bose; Editing by Jasper Ward and Bill Berkrot)
