Senators probe RFK’s reason for Samoa trip after letter refuting testimony published
Senators seek records
The senators also sought communications between the nonprofit and federal officials since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025. They set a Dec. 4 deadline for the group to provide the materials.
The lawmakers said they intended to hold Kennedy accountable for harm to children and for any false statements to Congress. They noted that knowingly giving materially false testimony to Congress is a crime, whether or not a person is under oath; Kennedy was not under oath at his confirmation hearing.
Letter described vaccine research
Reporting by the AP and The Guardian in August detailed a letter Kennedy sent to then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi on Jan. 20, 2019, before traveling to Samoa. In it, Kennedy described wanting to examine the country’s MMR vaccine use and referred to vaccine or vaccination eight times.
Kennedy raised the possibility that deaths in Samoa might have involved problems with different vaccine lots. He wrote that his team wanted to assess the issue through a “detailed health informatics assessment,” and discussed challenges in investigating possible adverse events and links to vaccination. During his confirmation process last year, Kennedy repeatedly told senators that his Samoa visit before the measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines.” The Department of Health and Human Services has also said the visit was unrelated to vaccines and called claims that he lied false and defamatory.
Outbreak and public response
Kennedy was leading Children’s Health Defense at the time of the trip. He met with anti-vaccine activists in Samoa, including one who helped arrange the visit with a U.S. Embassy employee, according to earlier AP and Guardian reporting.
Months afterward, measles spread while vaccination rates remained dangerously low, sickening thousands and killing 83 people, mostly children younger than 5. Public health experts have said anti-vaccine activism hampered efforts to respond; some say Kennedy’s visit emboldened activists.
Key points
- Wyden and Alsobrooks are seeking records about Kennedy’s Samoa trip and other matters.
- A 2019 letter discussed examining Samoa’s use of the MMR vaccine.
- Kennedy told senators the trip had nothing to do with vaccines; he was not under oath at his confirmation hearing.
- Samoa’s measles outbreak killed 83 people, mostly children under 5.