“An amendment to my Ethics Agreement is in process. It provides that I will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my non-dependent, adult son,” Kennedy wrote.
Kennedy said he is transferring the stake to one of his adult sons and is updating his ethics agreements with the government to reflect that, according to written answers he provided to the Senate Finance Committee after his hearing on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators that he will divest his financial stake in a lawsuit over a widely used vaccine as he seeks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , according to newly released documents.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren had focused on Kennedy’s 10 percent stake in the lawsuit against Merck, the maker of the Gardasil vaccine against the Human Papillomavirus, in her line of questioning of Kennedy. In a heated exchange, Warren repeatedly asked Kennedy to pledge that he will not accept compensation as secretary and for four years after from any lawsuit against a drug manufacturer.
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“There’s lots of ways you could influence those future lawsuits and pending lawsuits while you are secretary of HHS,” she said. “I’m asking you to commit right now that you will not take a financial stake in every one of those lawsuits so that what you do as secretary will also benefit you financially down the line.”
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Senator Warren grills RFK Jr. over ethics, his income during HHS confirmation hearing Share Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday as President Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services.
“I’ll comply with all the ethical guidelines,” Kennedy told her on Wednesday. “You’re asking me not to sue vaccine, pharmaceutical companies,” he added, both of their voices rising as she protested that he was twisting her words.
Kennedy was listed as a co-counsel on the lawsuit, from law firm WisnerBaum, and disclosed in ethics paperwork that he made more than $850,000 last year from his work with the firm, which included referring cases their way. Initially, he pledged to divest from any cases against the US government and its vaccine injury compensation program, but said he would retain a 10 percent stake in the outcome of the case against Merck.
In a statement Friday after the release of Kennedy’s responses to written questions from her and other senators about his stake in the lawsuits and his pledge to update his ethics agreements, Warren said his answers raised “new questions.” She demanded a confirmation vote be postponed until his new ethics agreement was available and could be examined.
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“After public pressure from Senate Democrats, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged dangerous conflicts of interest that would allow him to profit from an anti-vax lawsuit while serving as HHS Secretary,” Warren said. “It would be insufficient for RFK Jr. to only divest his interest in the Gardasil case while leaving the window open to profit from other anti-vax lawsuits, including future cases he could bring after leaving office.”
Over more than 180 pages of questions and answers, Kennedy responded to numerous written requests from Republican and Democratic members of the committee.
“Yes or no, do you believe the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) is safe and effective?” read one question.
“As I testified to the Committee, I am not anti-vaccination. I am pro-safety,” was the entirety of Kennedy’s response.
Kennedy repeated a version of that answer, either verbatim or by simply stating, “I am pro-safety,” to virtually identical questions about the shingles vaccine, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine, haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine, and HPV vaccine. He answered “yes” to the same question about whether the polio vaccine was safe and effective. Until very recently, Kennedy has been skeptical of the polio vaccine.
Kennedy wrote that he would not hamper access to vaccines.
“If confirmed, I will do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines but instead seek transparency in these products,” Kennedy wrote repeatedly in response to a variety of vaccine-related questions.
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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Tal Kopan can be reached at tal.kopan@globe.com. Follow her @talkopan. Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera. Jackie Kucinich can be reached at jackie.kucinich@globe.com. Follow her @JFKucinich and on Instagram at @JackieKucinich. Kendall Wright can be reached at kendall.wright@globe.com. Follow him on X @k_wright4.