Democratic senators are demanding answers from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over what they call a previously undisclosed change to the ethics agreement he made before confirmation. According to a letter sent Thursday, Kennedy told lawmakers he would transfer his financial interest in cervical cancer vaccine litigation to his adult son, but later assigned the stake to his former employer, the personal injury law firm Wisner Baum. The senators say the change was made quietly after his confirmation hearings and without explanation.
The lawmakers — Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, and Angela Alsobrooks — argue the move raises questions about Kennedy's credibility and potential conflicts of interest. They note that if Kennedy made any agreement for future payment with Wisner Baum, it would represent an ongoing conflict affecting his decisions as HHS Secretary. The letter also says Kennedy apparently failed to report the change to agency ethics officials.
HHS spokeswoman Emily G. Hilliard told the Associated Press that the department confirmed Kennedy's compliance with his ethics agreement in May 2025 and called claims that he maintained a financial interest in the litigation after taking office false. The source report notes that Kennedy's testimony has faced scrutiny before, including over vaccine policy changes and a 2019 trip to Samoa, though HHS has denied he lied in those cases. This article is based on a single MedPage Today report from the Associated Press; no independent verification was available.