Senators probe RFK Jr.'s reason for Samoa trip after letter refuting his testimony published
Also reported by Guardian World
Summary
Sens. Ron Wyden and Angela Alsobrooks opened an investigation into whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made false statements to Congress about his 2019 trip to Samoa. Their inquiry follows documents showing Kennedy discussed vaccines in a letter before the trip, despite later saying the visit had nothing to do with vaccines.Key Facts
- Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, requested documents from Children's Health Defense, the nonprofit Kennedy formerly chaired.
- The senators requested records about Kennedy's Samoa trip, his 2024 presidential campaign, his Senate confirmation process, and the group's communications with federal officials since January 2025.
- The senators set a Dec. 4 deadline for the group to provide the requested documents.
- In a Jan. 20, 2019, letter to Samoa's prime minister, Kennedy said his team wanted to study the country's use of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine; the letter used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.
- The Department of Health and Human Services has said Kennedy's Samoa visit was unrelated to vaccines and denied that he lied to Congress.
- Kennedy was not under oath at his confirmation hearing, but knowingly giving materially false testimony to Congress can be a crime even without an oath.
- A measles outbreak in Samoa later killed 83 people, mostly children younger than 5.
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