Calls for Criminal Probe Mount Against RFK Jr. Over Samoa Testimony

The advocacy group American Oversight formally requested the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether Kennedy provided materially false statements during his 2025 confirmation hearings. Central to the inquiry is a January 2019 letter signed by Kennedy and addressed to Samoa’s then-prime minister, Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi. In the correspondence, Kennedy explicitly proposed a vaccine-focused assessment of the island nation’s MMR program, a direct contrast to his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee where he claimed his visit was intended solely to introduce a medical informatics system.

Senator Ed Markey, who questioned Kennedy on the matter, emphasized that the trip was widely associated with the subsequent measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives, 72 of whom were children under the age of five. "New documents confirm what we already knew: RFK Jr. lied to Congress," Markey stated, characterizing the contradiction as part of a broader pattern of misinformation. As the U.S. faces a growing measles crisis and potential loss of its elimination status, medical professionals and advocacy groups are intensifying pressure for Kennedy’s removal, arguing that his tenure prioritizes political conspiracy over established public health science.