Senators probe RFK Jr.'s Samoa trip testimony after AP and Guardian
showed documents that refute it
[November 13, 2026]
By ALI SWENSON
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Democratic senators are launching an investigation
into whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress
about his reason for a 2019 trip to Samoa after The Associated Press and
The Guardian published documents in August refuting his testimony.
AP and Guardian reporting in August showed that while Kennedy repeatedly
told senators who held the key to his confirmation last year that his
visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had “nothing to do with
vaccines,” a letter he sent to the Samoan prime minister ahead of the
trip showed otherwise. In the letter, Kennedy used the words vaccine or
vaccination eight times.
The new inquiry is one of a vast array of investigations planned into
the Trump administration after Democrats regained control of the House
and Senate from Republicans in the midterm elections.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., said in a letter
Wednesday to Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group known for
anti-vaccine activism that was formerly chaired by Kennedy, that they
were starting an investigation.
The lawmakers asked the group for a broad range of documents related to
Kennedy’s Samoa travel, his 2024 presidential campaign and his Senate
confirmation process. The letter also requested all communications
between the group and federal government officials since President
Donald Trump's second term began in January 2025. The senators gave the
group a deadline of Dec. 4 to comply.
“We intend to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for the grave harm he
has caused to vulnerable children,” Wyden and Alsobrooks wrote in their
letter. “We also intend to hold him accountable for any false statements
made to Congress, a crime that undermines the Senate’s ability to
fulfill its constitutional duties.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has maintained that the
Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.” In response to an AP inquiry in
August, it said “any claim or insinuation based on these letters that
Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but
outright defamatory.”
Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly
giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a
possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath,
though it is rarely prosecuted.
Spokespeople for Children’s Health Defense and HHS did not immediately
respond to requests for comment Thursday.
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Kennedy’s Samoa visit has become one of the most contentious events
in his career. At the time, he was leading Children’s Health
Defense. Critics said the visit fueled anti-vaccine sentiment in
Samoa, which later experienced the measles outbreak that killed 83
people, mostly children under 5.
In the letter reported by the AP and Guardian, dated Jan. 20, 2019,
Kennedy addressed then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
and described his desire to study Samoa’s use of the MMR vaccine.
Kennedy speculated that the deaths in Samoa may have been caused by
issues with different vaccine lots. Writing on CHD letterhead, he
said his team wanted to evaluate whether that was the case through a
“detailed health informatics assessment.”
He expressed his belief that it was difficult and time-consuming in
most of the world to investigate “adverse health events associated
with vaccines” and said health information systems are rarely
designed to quickly study links “between diagnoses and specific
vaccination events.”
The letter did not specifically discuss anti-vaccine activism.
While in Samoa, Kennedy met with anti-vaccine activists, including
one who helped arrange the trip with a U.S. Embassy employee, the AP
and the Guardian previously reported.
Months later, with vaccination rates still dangerously low, measles
broke out, sickening thousands.
Public health experts have said their efforts to address the
outbreak were hampered by anti-vaccine activists, some of whom they
claim were emboldened by Kennedy’s visit.
Wyden is expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee, which has
oversight of Kennedy’s health department, when Democrats retake
Congress in January. Alsobrooks serves on the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which also oversees the
department.
The same senators on Wednesday announced a separate investigation
into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts reportedly
given last year to Kennedy by a donor and former employee.
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