Two Democratic senators have opened an investigation into whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress about why he traveled to Samoa in 2019, months before a measles outbreak there killed 83 people, most of them young children.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland announced the probe in a letter sent Wednesday to Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit Kennedy formerly chaired, according to The Associated Press and The Guardian.
“Unlawfully lied to Congress”
“We are beginning an investigation into evidence that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy, Jr unlawfully lied to Congress on multiple occasions,” the senators wrote, according to The Guardian, which obtained the letter.
The lawmakers are asking the group for a broad range of records, including all documents tied to Kennedy’s 2019 trip to the Pacific island nation. Wyden is the incoming chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which gives the inquiry real teeth once Democrats take control of the Senate next year.
What Kennedy told senators
During his January 2025 confirmation hearings, Kennedy repeatedly told senators that the Samoa visit had “nothing to do with vaccines.” Pressed by Sen. Ed Markey on whether the trip had anything to do with vaccines, Kennedy answered, “No, it did not.”
What the documents show
In August, The Associated Press and The Guardian published a January 2019 letter Kennedy sent on Children’s Health Defense letterhead to Samoa’s then-prime minister. In it, Kennedy proposed a “detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines” and used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times.
Months after Kennedy’s visit, a measles outbreak swept Samoa, sickening thousands and killing 83 people, mostly children under five, The Guardian reported.
Part of a wave of oversight
The Samoa inquiry is one of a vast array of investigations Democrats are planning into the Trump administration after winning back control of both the House and the Senate in last week’s midterm elections, the AP reported. The watchdog group American Oversight has separately asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Kennedy’s statements.
Lying to Congress is a federal crime whether or not a witness is under oath. Now the question is whether Kennedy’s own paperwork will be the evidence that proves it.