Ron Wyden launched an investigation into whether Robert F Kennedy Jr lied to Congress about Samoa. The Oregon senator said the inquiry centers on Kennedy’s 2019 trip and testimony he gave in two congressional confirmation hearings in January 2025.
Wyden’s letter, sent on Wednesday, sought extensive records from Children’s Health Defense, including documents tied to the 2019 trip to Samoa. Angela Alsobrooks signed the letter with Wyden, adding a second Senate Democrat to the effort.
Wyden’s records request
Wyden said in the letter to Children’s Health Defense: “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”. He also wrote with Alsobrooks: “We are deeply concerned by the tactics Kennedy has used – both before and during his tenure as secretary – to stand in the way of children receiving life-saving vaccinations”.
The request aims at records that can show what Kennedy knew, said, and sought during the 2019 trip to Samoa. That includes material that could be compared with his January 2025 testimony, where he said his visit had “nothing to do with vaccines”.
January 2019 letter
The dispute turns on a January 2019 letter Kennedy sent to the Samoan prime minister. In that letter, Kennedy said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in Samoa, and used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.
A month later, the Samoan prime minister responded and invited Kennedy to come. Kennedy then took the trip in 2019 as chair and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense, months before a measles outbreak in Samoa killed 83 people, mostly children under age five.
Testimony versus records
Kennedy’s January 2025 testimony is now the focus of the inquiry because it appears to sit beside the earlier letter in direct contrast. The written record says he wanted to study MMR in Samoa; his hearing testimony said the trip had nothing to do with vaccines.
Critics including Samoan officials said Kennedy’s presence emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa and worsened a vaccination crisis. and the obtained the letters through an open records lawsuit brought by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Children’s Health Defense response
Children’s Health Defense did not respond to requests for comment. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately comment.
For now, Wyden has opened the file and asked for the records that could test Kennedy’s account. Whether he gets them, and whether the Senate inquiry leads to further action, is the next point that matters for Kennedy and for the committee weighing his testimony.
