Senator Wyden launches review of Kennedy’s statements about Samoa — The Guardian
In the United States, Democratic Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden has launched a review into potentially false statements by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his 2025 Senate confirmation hearings. Wyden and Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks sent a request for documents to the nonprofit anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense, with which Kennedy was affiliated. The Guardian reports.
Trip to Samoa
The senators referred to the outlet’s report about Kennedy’s visit to Samoa in 2019. At two hearings in January 2025, he told lawmakers that the trip was not related to vaccines.
At the same time, letters obtained by The Guardian and the Associated Press through a freedom of information lawsuit show that before the trip, Kennedy wrote to Samoa’s prime minister about his intention to study the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. In a letter from January 2019, the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” were used eight times. The prime minister replied the following month that Samoa could benefit from an assessment of the MMR vaccine by Children’s Health Defense and invited Kennedy to visit.
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The trip took place several months before a measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people, mostly children under the age of five. Critics, including Samoan officials, argued that Kennedy’s presence strengthened anti-vaccination positions and worsened the vaccination crisis. Kennedy himself denied these accusations, saying that he did not speak publicly about vaccines and did not discourage Samoan residents from getting vaccinated.
What documents the senators requested
Wyden and Alsobrooks requested all documents concerning trips to Samoa by Kennedy, employees, or individuals affiliated with Children’s Health Defense, as well as correspondence with the country’s officials. They also requested materials related to Kennedy’s presidential campaign, his Senate confirmation process, a speech at the organization’s September conference, and Children’s Health Defense’s contacts with federal officials after January 20, 2025.
The organization was given a deadline of December 4 to provide the documents. The senators’ request does not have the force of a subpoena, but Tim Stretton, a representative of the watchdog organization Project on Government Oversight, noted that if it refuses, the committee or its chair could issue subpoenas. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services previously stated that Kennedy’s trip to Samoa was not related to vaccination and that claims of false testimony are untrue and defamatory.
