Senator Calls for Criminal Probe into RFK Jr. Over Measles Outbreak Links

Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called Thursday for a criminal investigation into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over allegations that the health secretary misled Congress about his anti-vaccine advocacy and its role in a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement that Kennedy's conduct warranted scrutiny under federal false-statement laws. He urged the committee's Republican majority to issue a criminal referral to the Justice Department.

"RFK’s platform is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake," Wyden told *The Guardian*. "There are consequences for lying to Congress."

The senator pointed to newly obtained correspondence showing that Kennedy, in January 2019, told Samoa's prime minister that he believed two infant deaths were "temporally associated with MMR vaccines." Kennedy had previously testified under oath that his trip to Samoa had "nothing to do with vaccines."

The letters, reviewed by *The Guardian* and the Associated Press, contradict Kennedy's congressional testimony. In the January 20, 2019 letter, he urged Samoa to investigate the MMR vaccine's safety, a message amplified by his nonprofit, Children's Health Defense, which spread anti-vaccine misinformation on the island.

The timing of Kennedy's visit coincided with a sharp decline in Samoa's vaccination rates, which plummeted from 60-70% to 31%. Before 2019, Samoa had not recorded a severe measles outbreak since 1985. In 2019 alone, the country reported 5,707 measles cases and 83 deaths, most of them children under five.

Kennedy's advocacy contributed to the crisis, according to public health experts. The outbreak also fueled a regional measles surge, with U.S. cases rising this year to 2,777—far exceeding projections for 2025.

CDC data shows that childhood vaccination rates in the U.S. fell nearly 3% between the 2019-2020 and 2025-2026 school years, dropping from 95.2% to 92.4%. The decline falls below the 95% threshold required for herd immunity, leaving unvaccinated individuals vulnerable.

Other Democrats joined Wyden's call for Kennedy's removal. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., stated that Kennedy "cannot be trusted to run HHS for even one more day." Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who witnessed Samoa's outbreak firsthand, urged Kennedy to resign "for the safety and health of our country."

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., told CNN that current measles outbreaks "could be tied directly to the horrific leadership of Secretary Kennedy."

Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearings, but legal experts note that making false statements to Congress can violate federal law. The Justice Department has not indicated whether it will pursue charges.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is advancing a proposal to transfer a quarter-mile parcel of Yosemite National Park to a private developer, Kingsbarn Realty Capital. The plan, backed by the Department of the Interior, would grant the Nevada-based company access to federally protected land in exchange for an equal-value parcel elsewhere.

The developer, which owns 83 acres adjacent to the park, seeks to build a road connecting its property to a main Yosemite road, raising concerns about expanded private access to protected forests. Interior officials have reportedly pressured the National Park Service to approve the deal, despite its long-standing policy against such transactions.

Cicely Muldoon, a former Yosemite superintendent, called the proposal a betrayal of the park's preservation mission. "Our basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations," she said.

Elsewhere, reports indicate that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is leveraging Natalie Harp, a Trump aide known as his "human printer" for curating flattering media, to push anti-immigration policies. Two sources told *Zeteo* that Miller directed Harp to post restrictive immigration content on Trump's social media accounts, shaping public sentiment and influencing policy debates.

Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., remains out of public view after a reported health setback. His office last provided an update on August 6, stating he had been discharged from rehabilitation. No further details have been released despite 75 days passing since his last public appearance.