Senate Democrat opens investigation into RFK Jr. testimony on Samoa trip

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has launched an investigation into whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unlawfully lied to Congress during his 2025 confirmation hearings. The letter, co-signed by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, was sent to Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the anti-vaccine group Kennedy chaired until December 2024.

The investigation centers on Kennedy’s 2019 trip to Samoa, which occurred months before a measles outbreak that eventually reached 5,700 cases and 83 deaths, mostly children under age five. In two confirmation hearings in January 2025, Kennedy told lawmakers his visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines.”

Letters obtained by The Guardian and The Associated Press contradict that testimony, according to the senators. In a January 2019 letter to then-Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Kennedy explicitly said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, using the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times. The prime minister responded a month later, saying Samoa could benefit from CHD’s assessment of MMR vaccines and inviting him to come.

Wyden’s letter requests all documents related to any travel to Samoa by Kennedy or other CHD employees or associates, communications with Samoan government officials, records related to Kennedy’s presidential campaign and Senate confirmation process, records related to Kennedy’s speech to CHD’s September convention, and all communications between CHD and federal government officials since January 20, 2025. CHD has a deadline of December 4.

Wyden is expected to assume chairmanship of the finance committee when Democrats take majority control in January. Alsobrooks posted on November 4: “The time is now. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired. End of discussion.”

HHS previously said Kennedy’s visit to Samoa was “unrelated to vaccines” and that any claim he lied under oath or to Congress is “not only false but outright defamatory.” HHS and CHD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a possible prison sentence, though it is rarely prosecuted.

Sources

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