Senate Democrats Open Probe Into Whether RFK Jr. Lied to Congress About His Samoa Trip

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (TodayViralUSA) — Two Democratic senators have opened an investigation into whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress about a 2019 trip to Samoa that came months before a measles outbreak killed 83 people there, most of them young children.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland announced the inquiry in a letter sent Wednesday to Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit Kennedy once chaired. “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,” they wrote, according to The Guardian.

Testimony vs. the paper trail

At his two confirmation hearings in January 2025, Kennedy told senators the Samoa visit had “nothing to do with vaccines.” But letters obtained in August by The Associated Press and The Guardian through an open-records lawsuit contradict that account. In a January 2019 letter to Samoa’s then-prime minister, Kennedy said he wanted his team to study the country’s measles, mumps and rubella vaccine program, using the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times. The prime minister replied a month later with an invitation.

HHS has previously said the trip was “unrelated to vaccines” and called claims that Kennedy lied under oath “not only false but outright defamatory.” Neither the department nor Children’s Health Defense immediately commented on the new inquiry.

What the senators want

The letter asks the group for all records of travel to Samoa by Kennedy or its associates, communications with Samoan officials, documents tied to Kennedy’s presidential campaign and Senate confirmation, and all communications with federal officials since Jan. 20, 2025. The deadline is Dec. 4.

The letter is not a subpoena, but Democrats will control the Senate in January, giving Wyden subpoena power as committee chair. Knowingly making material false statements to Congress is a federal crime, though it is rarely prosecuted, and legal experts have said the Justice Department under President Trump is unlikely to bring a case. Several Democrats, including incoming HELP Committee chair Bernie Sanders, have said they are open to impeaching Kennedy.