La senator kennedy showing folders
Executive summary
Sen. John Kennedy has been the subject of circulating images and claims showing him holding folders on the Senate floor; fact-checkers and archives show similar “manila folder” imagery has been reused in viral posts and satire, while separate real controversies concern the release of JFK/RFK/MLK assassination files and the declassification actions of 2025 (Executive Order 14176) that produced millions of pages (National Archives: more than six million pages; RFK release pages: 10,185 initially) [1] [2]. Available sources do not specifically confirm a single definitive incident in which Sen. Kennedy “showed folders” that produced the viral narratives — reporting instead notes recurring online fabrications and unrelated document-release stories [3] [4] [1].
1. Viral visuals, real and fabricated: how a manila folder became a meme
Multiple fact-checks find that dramatic, meme-ready descriptions of Sen. John Kennedy waving or “executing” political opponents with a manila folder have circulated as fabricated or embellished stories; Snopes documents at least two viral inventions that used photos and invented captions to claim Kennedy dramatically exposed Democrats on the Senate floor, noting those posts included fabricated dialogue and AI-assisted details [3] [4]. That pattern — a simple image of a senator with a plain folder repurposed into sensational captions — explains why “showing folders” claims spread rapidly even when the underlying events did not occur as described [3].
2. Separate, substantive news: the large-scale release of assassination records
A distinct but contemporaneous development fuels public attention around folders and documents: President Trump’s Executive Order 14176 ordered the declassification and release of records connected to the JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations, producing a massive corpus of materials. The National Archives describes the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection as consisting of more than six million pages, and the RFK page lists an initial 10,185 pages (229 PDFs) posted April 18, 2025 — real documents that officials and reporters handled in boxes and file folders [1] [2].
3. Why reporters and activists converged on archives and warehouses
News organizations reported operatives — in one case associated with Tulsi Gabbard’s ODNI role or teams described as “hunters” — pressing for access to CIA storage sites and archival holdings as agencies prepared releases; Reuters and local reporting describe encounters at secure facilities where staff called in CIA officials during demands for files, underscoring tensions between an administration pushing rapid disclosure and agency processes governing classified materials [5] [6]. These episodes help explain vivid reporting of people confronting stacks of manila folders: they happened around real declassification operations, even as viral social posts misattribute or fictionalize the moment [5].
4. Competing narratives and political stakes
Federal declassification and the highly visual act of producing boxes of documents became politicized. The White House and DNI framed the moves as a public-interest push to end secrecy under Executive Order 14176, while intelligence and archival professionals expressed concerns about timelines and process; the administration’s fact sheets underscored “providing Americans the truth” after decades [7] [8]. Simultaneously, partisan actors and meme-makers weaponized images of folders in social media to score rhetorical points — a dynamic where legitimate transparency efforts and bad-faith amplification mixed in public perception [7] [1].
5. How to separate the provable from the amplified
Provable facts in the record: the executive order mandated reviews and releases, the National Archives cataloged millions of pages, and the National Archives and ODNI posted specific RFK file tranches [1] [2]. Claims that a particular Senate display by Sen. John Kennedy “executed AOC, Schumer” or dramatically buried Hillary Clinton are debunked in fact checks; those narratives rely on fabricated quotations and misattributed imagery [3] [4]. Where available sources do not mention a named event, treat viral posts as unverified and rely on archival releases and reputable reporting for documentary claims [1] [5].
6. What to watch next and caveats in the record
Follow primary-document repositories (National Archives RFK/JFK pages) and major news outlets for authoritative releases and reporting on how agencies handled classified material [1] [2]. Caveats: social-media imagery and captioning routinely distort simple gestures (a senator holding a folder) into scandal; fact-check outlets warn about AI-assisted fabrications. Available sources do not provide a single definitive incident tying Sen. Kennedy’s “folders” moment to the assassination-file releases — they document both factual document releases and separate viral misrepresentations [1] [3].