Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing calls for a criminal investigation after newly obtained documents appear to contradict testimony he gave Congress about a controversial 2019 trip to Samoa.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, says he plans to press his Republican colleagues to refer Kennedy to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation over statements he made during his confirmation hearings last year.
The issue centers on a trip Kennedy took to Samoa in 2019 while he was leading an anti-vaccine organization.
During Senate confirmation hearings in 2025, Kennedy was asked by Wyden and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts about the trip.
Kennedy’s answer was unequivocal. His visit, he testified, had “nothing to do with vaccines.”
Newly obtained records appear to tell a very different story.
The documents, obtained by The Guardian and The Associated Press following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, include a letter Kennedy sent to Samoa’s prime minister before the trip.
In that letter, Kennedy specifically said he wanted to study “what happened with your MMR vaccines” in Samoa.
He also used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times in the letter.
That’s a rather difficult detail to reconcile with the claim that the trip had “nothing to do with vaccines.”
Wyden isn’t letting it go.
“RFK’s platform is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake. There are consequences for lying to Congress,” Wyden said in a statement to The Guardian.
Wyden said he will push Republican senators, who currently control the Senate, to refer Kennedy to the Justice Department for investigation.
He also warned that if Democrats regain control of the Senate, Kennedy would be among the Trump administration officials facing scrutiny from the Finance Committee.
“This is a pattern, not a slip,” Markey said. “RFK Jr has lied to the Senate, lied to the American people and jeopardized the health of children to advance his anti-vaccine agenda.”
Markey said Kennedy “cannot be trusted to run” the Department of Health and Human Services for another day.
The controversy takes on additional weight because of what happened in Samoa after Kennedy’s visit.
Months later, Samoa suffered a devastating measles outbreak that sickened thousands and killed 83 people, most of them children under five.
That does not establish that Kennedy was responsible for the outbreak or the deaths. But it provides important context for why his activities surrounding vaccines in Samoa have drawn renewed scrutiny.
The Trump administration is pushing back hard.
HHS told the AP that Kennedy’s trip “was unrelated to vaccines.” The department called any claim or suggestion that Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress “false” and “outright defamatory.”
HHS did not immediately respond to The Guardian’s request for comment about Wyden’s call for an investigation.
But the legal question isn’t quite as simple as trading political accusations.
Josh Chafetz, a professor of law and politics at Georgetown University Law Center, told The Guardian that lying to Congress can constitute a crime even when the witness isn’t under oath.
There is, however, a major obstacle to any criminal prosecution: the Justice Department would have to pursue the case.
And Chafetz noted that the current Justice Department is unlikely to prosecute a Cabinet official serving under President Trump.
That doesn’t mean Congress is powerless. If Democrats regain control of the House or Senate after the November elections, Kennedy’s testimony could become the subject of congressional hearings, an impeachment inquiry, or other investigations.
Kennedy’s defenders say the new documents don’t prove he lied.
But lawmakers say the documents tell a different story — and they are now asking the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation.
