WASHINGTON — Two Democratic senators have launched an investigation into whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress about the reason for a 2019 trip to Samoa, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, November 12. Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland said in a letter sent Wednesday to Children's Health Defense (CHD) — the nonprofit known for anti-vaccine activism that Kennedy formerly chaired — that they were starting the investigation. The claims in the letter are allegations; no finding has been made.
Source: Associated Press (Ali Swenson) via Louisiana First News, Nov 12, 2026
“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,” the senators wrote, in a letter obtained by the Guardian. “We intend to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for the grave harm he has caused to vulnerable children,” they added. “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.”
Source: The Guardian via Bytes Europe, Nov 12, 2026
What Kennedy told Congress — and what the letter said
In two confirmation hearings in January 2025, Kennedy repeatedly told the lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that his visit to Samoa, months before a deadly measles outbreak there, had “nothing to do with vaccines.” But reporting by the AP and the Guardian in August 2026 — based on letters obtained through an open-records lawsuit brought by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — showed a January 2019 letter Kennedy sent to Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi on CHD letterhead ahead of the trip, in which he said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in Samoa and used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times. The prime minister replied a month later saying Samoa could benefit from CHD's assessment of MMR vaccines and inviting him to come. Kennedy travelled to Samoa in June 2019 as CHD's chair and chief legal counsel.
What the senators are demanding
The letter asks CHD for a broad range of documents: all records related to any travel to Samoa by Kennedy or other CHD employees or associates and any communications with Samoan government officials; records tied to Kennedy's 2024 presidential campaign and his Senate confirmation process; records of his speech to CHD's September convention; and all communications between the group and federal government officials since President Donald Trump's second term began on January 20, 2025. CHD has until December 4 to comply. The same two senators on Wednesday also announced a separate investigation into hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of gifts reportedly given to Kennedy last year by a donor and former employee.
Senators' allegation: Kennedy 'unlawfully lied to Congress on multiple occasions' about the Samoa trip. HHS response: the Samoa visit 'was unrelated to vaccines,' and '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 has denied discouraging Samoans from vaccinating. No court or committee has ruled on the claim.
The Department of Health and Human Services has maintained that the Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.” Spokespeople for CHD and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday, the AP reported. The AP also noted that Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing; knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime carrying a possible prison sentence regardless of oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.
Why the letter has teeth — and its limits
The request is a letter, not a subpoena, and carries no subpoena power on its own. But Wyden is expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee — which oversees Kennedy's department — when Democrats retake Congress in January, after regaining control of both the House and Senate in the midterms. Alsobrooks serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which also oversees HHS. “It's not wise to ignore it,” Tim Stretton of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog, told the Guardian. “It's really in their interest now to cooperate in a good faith effort.” On election night, Wyden posted a single word on social media: “Subpoenas.” Alsobrooks posted on November 4: “The time is now. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired.”
The inquiry is one of a vast array of investigations Democrats plan into the Trump administration. Wyden had already called in August for a criminal investigation of Kennedy's testimony and said he would press for a criminal referral to the Justice Department. Bernie Sanders, the incoming chair of the health committee, has said he is open to impeachment, according to the Guardian's reporting. Legal experts cited by the Guardian said a prosecution by Trump's Justice Department is unlikely, but the statements could be used for hearings, an impeachment inquiry or other pressure on the administration.
The Samoa trip remains contested ground. Critics, including Samoan officials, have said Kennedy's presence emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa during a vaccination crisis; Kennedy has said he never gave any public statement about vaccines there or discouraged vaccination, and the senators' letter does not claim his visit caused the outbreak, which killed 83 people, mostly children under age five.
What happens next
CHD's deadline is December 4. If the group does not cooperate, the fight is expected to escalate in January, when Wyden's expected Finance Committee chairmanship would give the inquiry subpoena power. For US readers — including Punjabi families who follow vaccine policy closely after measles outbreaks in North America — the case will test how far congressional oversight can go against a sitting cabinet secretary, and whether a records fight over a 2019 trip becomes the first major accountability battle of the new Congress.