The White House has posted hundreds of declassified documents about Amelia Earhart on the National Archives website, with more records promised. Experts say the newly released pages add little new factual evidence about Earhart's 1937 disappearance; one entry records her last transmitted word as "wait." The release comes as political pressure mounts to declassify separate records tied to Jeffrey Epstein, and Congress is preparing a vote that could force additional disclosures.
White House Posts Amelia Earhart Records as Pressure Grows to Release Epstein Files
The White House has posted hundreds of declassified documents about Amelia Earhart on the National Archives website, with more records promised. Experts say the newly released pages add little new factual evidence about Earhart's 1937 disappearance; one entry records her last transmitted word as "wait." The release comes as political pressure mounts to declassify separate records tied to Jeffrey Epstein, and Congress is preparing a vote that could force additional disclosures.
11:25 AM, 11/18/2025Politics
WASHINGTON — The White House has published a fresh batch of documents related to Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance, posting hundreds of pages to the National Archives website and saying more records will be added on a rolling basis.
The administration said the material was declassified at the president's direction and is now publicly available for researchers and the public to review. So far, historians and investigators say the released records add little new factual evidence about what happened to Earhart and her navigator during their final flight over the central Pacific.
The pioneering aviator set out in May 1937 on an attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. She and her Lockheed Electra vanished in July of that year; while the disappearance spawned many theories, the prevailing view among experts remains that the plane likely ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean.
“I have been asked by many people. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her!”
The president posted that message in September on his social platform, framing the nearly 90-year-old mystery as a priority for declassification. One entry in the newly posted collection does record a final transmission attributed to Earhart; the last word in that report is recorded as "wait."
While the Earhart files draw historical interest, the release arrives amid intense political pressure to declassify a separate set of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Recently disclosed emails and documents have deepened scrutiny of the president's connections to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019, and prompted lawmakers and members of the public to demand fuller transparency.
After months of resisting broader disclosure, the president eased his opposition after House Democrats said they had secured the votes necessary to force the release of certain related materials. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on that matter in the coming days.
What to watch: Researchers will comb the newly available pages for fresh leads, but experts caution that, at least initially, the documents appear to confirm existing records rather than offer a definitive breakthrough in Earhart's fate. Meanwhile, the political debate over the Epstein-related records is likely to continue to dominate headlines.