CNN legal analyst Jeff Toobin calls backtrack on JFK files 'shameful': 'They've had decades to deal with this'

Twenty-five years ago, congress set a deadline of October 26, 2017 for the final release of all records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

President Donald J. Trump's administration announced that it would miss the deadline, with some documents held back because of the Administration's last minute requests to redact documents.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin to explain the significance of the delay.

"I don't think it's just extraordinary, I think it's shameful. This instinctive desire to keep things secret is so ingrained...the idea they can't be released at this time is just absurd," Toobin explained. "It's really disappointing that the agencies are behaving this way, they had plenty of time, they should have done it long ago."

"It's a really major blunder, because they knew that today was the day," Blitzer concluded.

"I think it shows a very inexperienced White House and if they have bungled this thing, with records that is so old, what else is going on?" CNN political director Mark Preston wondered.

"He said it was going to happen today, it didn't happen today, that's all we know for sure," Toobin concluded.

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