Sens.: “Your recent public statement appears to indicate that the information you provided to the Committee and the Office of Government Ethics is no longer accurate and suggests that you have either modified your ethics agreement or strayed from it altogether.”
August 26, 2026 - Washington, D.C. — Following a social media post from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to RFK Jr. asking whether he has changed his ethics agreement, and if so, how and when any changes were made. The letter builds on an investigation by Senators Warren, Blumenthal, Alsobrooks, and Andy Kim (D-NJ) into whether RFK Jr.’s family may be financially benefitting from a $50 million anti-vaccine settlement he could have influenced as HHS Secretary.
Prior to his confirmation as Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr. helped spearhead a lawsuit against the vaccine manufacturer Merck & Co. (“Merck”) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil. RFK Jr.’s initial ethics agreement allowed him to retain a 10% contingency fee in cases that he had referred to his former law firm, Wisner Baum. After warnings from Senator Warren about this conflict of interest, RFK Jr. agreed to amend his ethics agreement to “divest [his] interest in any such litigation [related to Gardasil] via an assignment to [his] non-dependent, adult son.” RFK Jr. also signed an ethics agreement compliance certification in which he indicated that he had “completed all of the divestitures indicated in [his] ethics agreement.”
In June, Merck & Co., Inc. (Merck) announced that the company would pay $50 million to settle more than 200 lawsuits regarding the use of Gardasil, a safe, effective vaccine that prevents multiple types of cancer. The settlement covers lawsuits for which Secretary Kennedy was listed as the attorney of record and cases represented by Secretary Kennedy’s former employer, Wisner Baum.
Following the settlement, Senators Warren, Blumenthal, Alsobrooks, and Kim opened an investigation to clarify whether the Secretary’s son benefitted from this agreement. The Secretary thereafter stated on X, “[b]efore taking office, I relinquished any interest in potential Gardasil fees back to the Wisner Baum law firm” rather than to his son, and claimed that Wisner Baum had “publicly confirmed this during [his] confirmation process.”
In a new letter to RFK Jr., the senators note that these recent statements are a departure from what he told the Senate Finance Committee during his nomination process and the ethics agreement that he filed with the Office of Government Ethics.
“Your response raises questions about the disclosures you made to Congress and in federal ethics documents, and your statements require further clarification,” wrote the senators. “Your recent public statement appears to indicate that the information you provided to the Committee and the Office of Government Ethics is no longer accurate and suggests that you have either modified your ethics agreement or strayed from it altogether.”
The senators note that their staff conducted a diligent review of all of Secretary Kennedy’s public financial disclosures and ethics documents and identified no amendments or modifications to any of these materials. Additionally, the Senate Finance Committee did not identify any information indicating RFK Jr. changed the disposition of his Gardasil stake.
To understand these discrepancies, the senators wrote to RFK Jr., pushing him for answers on whether he had transferred his 10 percent stake in Gardisil litigation to his son or any other entity and whether he or his family stands to gain from this recent settlement.
Senator Warren has led Senate oversight on RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda and conflicts of interest as HHS Secretary:
- In July 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) opened a new investigation into whether Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s (RFK Jr.) family may be financially benefiting from a $50 million anti-vaccine settlement that his actions as Secretary could have influenced.
- In January 2026, Senators Warren (D-Mass.), Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Markey (D-Mass.), and Alsobrooks (D-Md.) pressed RFK Jr. on his proposed overhaul of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which could threaten the domestic vaccine supply, undermine public health, and potentially enrich Secretary Kennedy’s family and close allies.
- In June 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.), on the eve of a key committee meeting, slammed RFK Jr. for his “reckless” and “shortsighted” decision to fire all 17 independent members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replace them with eight members who appear to be hand-picked to advance RFK Jr.’s own anti-vaccine agenda.
- In February 2025, Senators Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to RFK Jr., then-nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, pressing him to urgently resolve his serious conflicts of interest related to his stake in Gardasil lawsuits.
- In January 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) questioned RKF Jr., then-nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), about his dangerous conflicts of interest and record of profiting from anti-vaccine conspiracies.
Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren