Senators Call for Criminal Probe, Ouster of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over Alleged Lies to Senate

Senators are renewing demands for the removal of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and at least one senator is advocating for a criminal investigation into his conduct. These calls follow the release of new documents that lawmakers claim demonstrate Kennedy provided false statements during his confirmation hearings last year.

The controversy centers on a 2019 trip by Kennedy to Samoa, which occurred when he led the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense. During his January 2025 confirmation hearings, senators raised concerns about this visit, particularly its timing just months before a devastating measles outbreak in Samoa that resulted in 83 deaths, mostly children under five years old. The outbreak was significantly exacerbated by a surge in vaccine hesitancy, which caused vaccination rates to plummet to as low as 31 percent.

Kennedy's Confirmation Testimony Challenged

During his Senate confirmation process, <entity id="robert-f-kennedy-jr">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</entity> explicitly denied that his visit to Samoa had any connection to vaccines. In an exchange with Senator Ron Wyden, Kennedy stated his purpose was to introduce a medical informatics system to digitize records and improve health delivery in Samoa. Similarly, in a discussion with Senator Edward J. Markey, Kennedy maintained that his reason for traveling there was unrelated to vaccines.

However, documents jointly released on Thursday by The Associated Press and The Guardian directly contradict these assertions. Among these is a letter Kennedy sent to Samoa’s prime minister in January 2019. In this correspondence, Kennedy falsely suggested that recent deaths associated with MMR vaccines were due to a faulty batch from the manufacturer. He then proposed that he and his team from <entity id="childrens-health-defense">Children’s Health Defense</entity> investigate the country’s MMR vaccines. The letter reportedly used the terms 'vaccination' and 'vaccine' eight times in outlining his proposed visit.

The prime minister of <entity id="samoa">Samoa</entity> responded in February, welcoming Kennedy and his team for an independent health assessment of their MMR vaccines and requesting coordination for the visit.

Background of Samoa's Measles Crisis

The deaths Kennedy referenced in his letter likely pertained to two infants who died in July 2018 shortly after receiving MMR shots. Investigations later determined that two nurses had mistakenly mixed the vaccine with a lethal dose of muscle relaxant. One nurse attempted to conceal the error by removing the empty muscle relaxant bottle from the trash. Both nurses were subsequently charged with manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison in August 2019.

Following this tragedy, Children's Health Defense and other anti-vaccine activists reportedly capitalized on the incident. They highlighted the infant deaths in Facebook posts for months, questioning the safety of MMR vaccines. These posts were not updated to include information about the actual cause of death once it was determined.

Senators Demand Accountability

<entity id="edward-j-markey">Senator Edward J. Markey</entity> (D-Mass.) issued a statement asserting that Kennedy's actions represented a pattern, not an isolated incident. Markey stated that Kennedy had misled the <entity id="senate">Senate</entity> and the American public, and had endangered children's health to further his anti-vaccine agenda.

<entity id="ron-wyden">Senator Ron Wyden</entity> (D-Ore.) posted on social media that the documents provided proof of Kennedy lying on the record during his confirmation hearing, describing it as a crime. Wyden called for the matter to be referred to the US <entity id="department-of-justice">Department of Justice</entity> for a criminal investigation. In a separate statement, Wyden added that Kennedy's platform is built on falsehoods and schemes that result in tragic consequences, and that there are repercussions for providing false information to Congress.