January 31, 2025

After Pressure From Warren, HHS Secretary Nominee RFK Jr. Will Amend Flawed Ethics Agreement

Washington, D.C. – During Wednesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)questioned President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about his apparent conflicts of interest. Following pressure from Senate Democrats, RFK Jr., today in written responses to Senator Warren, agreed to amend his flawed ethics agreement (see Warren QFRs at the end of Part 2 and start of Part 3). 

In response to this new information, Sen. Warren released the following statement:

“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. While he has now pledged in writing to fix his flawed ethics agreement, the answers he has provided to this committee also raise new questions about the scope of his conflicts.

“Given these ongoing questions, RFK Jr.'s nomination must not move forward to any Senate vote until the details of his revised ethics agreement can be thoroughly reviewed. It’s also critical that the revised ethics agreement ensures that he cannot use his role as Health Secretary to open the floodgates to more anti-vaccine litigation and then cash in after he leaves office, including adopting a four-year post-employment ban on accepting any compensation from lawsuits involving any entity regulated by HHS.

“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.”

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