Two Democratic senators have asked Children’s Health Defense to turn over records by Dec. 4 as they examine what Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Congress about a 2019 trip to Samoa. The Nov. 11 letter, signed by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, also seeks the nonprofit’s communications with federal officials since Jan. 20, 2025.
Kennedy formerly chaired Children’s Health Defense. The senators addressed the letter to the group’s general counsel, Kim Mack Rosenberg, and asked her to send the records to Democratic committee staff. Wyden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid. Alsobrooks sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Both committees questioned Kennedy before the Senate confirmed him in 2025.
What the senators asked for
The travel request covers itineraries, meeting notes and records of work on vaccines, infectious diseases or public health in Samoa. It also covers communications between Samoan government officials and people affiliated with the nonprofit. The letter asks for campaign and confirmation records and documents about Kennedy’s September 2026 appearance at the group’s convention in Washington.
The senators set Dec. 4 as the date for the group to provide documents. Their letter makes a request to the nonprofit. It does not announce a subpoena or a finding by either committee. It covers records from before Kennedy became secretary as well as contacts with federal officials during his tenure. That gives committee staff a way to compare the organization’s records with the account Kennedy gave during confirmation.
What Kennedy told senators
At the Jan. 30, 2025 confirmation hearing, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts asked Kennedy about his explanation for the trip. Kennedy said his purpose in going to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines. He said he went to help digitize the country’s health records and acknowledged that he had conversations with some people he had not planned to meet.
Wyden and Alsobrooks cited a January 2019 letter in which Kennedy proposed that his team examine Samoa’s experience with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. They say that correspondence calls his account of the trip into question. HHS previously maintained that the trip was unrelated to vaccines and rejected the allegation that Kennedy misled Congress. The exchange concerned Kennedy’s purpose for traveling. The records request does not establish what effect his visit had on the outbreak that followed. A new public response to the records request from HHS or Children’s Health Defense had yet to appear Thursday afternoon.
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