Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have perjured himself during his Senate confirmation hearings to become secretary of Health and Human Services.
The 72-year-old Kennedy testified last year that his heavily scrutinized 2019 trip to Samoa, which came just ahead of a major measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines,” but documents obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press strongly suggest otherwise.
“Emails sent by staff at the U.S. embassy and the United Nations provide, for the first time, an inside look at how Kennedy’s trip came about and include contemporaneous accounts suggesting his concerns about vaccine safety motivated the visit,” the Guardian reported. “The documents have prompted concerns from at least one U.S. senator that the lawyer and activist now leading America’s health policy lied to Congress over the visit.”
Kennedy has radically reshaped immunization policy in the U.S. since his confirmation, which came despite concerns about his anti-vaccine record that he attempted to deny during his Senate hearings, but the newly revealed emails, which were turned over by the U.S. Department of State, shed new light on his trip to the U.S. territory in the South Pacific.
“The newly disclosed documents also reveal previously unknown details of the trip, including that a U.S. embassy employee helped Kennedy’s team connect with Samoan officials,” the Guardian reported. “Kennedy, then running his anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, did not publicly discuss the trip at the time, but has since said his ‘purpose’ for going there was not related to vaccines and that ‘I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.’”
Kennedy met with anti-vaccine activists in addition to Samoan officials, including the territory’s then-health minister, who told NBC News last month that Kennedy shared his view that vaccines were not safe, but he insisted during his confirmation hearings that was not the purpose of his visit.
“Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda is directly responsible for the deaths of innocent children,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), one of the senators who questioned him about that trip. “Lying to Congress about his role in the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa only underscores the danger he now poses to families across America. He and his allies will be held responsible.”
Anti-vaccine activists became interested in Samoa in July 2018, after two babies died after injections from a tainted measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that had been improperly prepared, and the government paused its vaccine program for 10 months, and Kennedy’s group tried to connect him with Samoa’s prime minister in early 2019.
“The U.S. embassy in the past has acknowledged that an unnamed staffer attended an event with Kennedy and anti-vaccine activists while he was in Samoa, the new records show that [embassy staffer Benjamin] Harding wasn’t a passive attendee,” the Guardian reported. “He helped arrange Kennedy’s visit and connected Kennedy’s delegation with Samoan government officials.”
A top embassy staffer alerted Scott Brown, then President Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa and currently a GOP Senate candidate in New Hampshire, to Kennedy’s visit and Harding’s involvement.
“The real reason Kennedy is coming is to raise awareness about vaccinations, more specifically some of the health concerns associated with vaccinating (from his point of view),” wrote that embassy official, Antone Greubel. “It turns out our very own Benjamin Harding played some role in a personal capacity to bring him here.”
Gruebel also wrote told Harding to “cease and desist from any further involvement with this travel,” but the rest of the sentence is redacted.
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