Senator Demands Criminal Probe of RFK Jr.

Two young children in Samoa die after being given an improperly mixed MMR vaccine. Two nurses are later charged and plead guilty to manslaughter. Samoa halts all vaccinations for 10 months.

Kennedy, then chairman and chief legal counsel of the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, writes to then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi proposing a "detailed health informatics assessment" of what happened with Samoa's MMR vaccines, according to the letter obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press.

The prime minister replies that Samoa "could benefit" from the group's independent assessment of its MMR vaccines and welcomes the proposed visit.

Vaccinations resume. Samoa's top health official has publicly said human error, not a vaccine problem, killed the two children.

Kennedy travels to Samoa with his colleague Dr. Michael Graven and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines. A May email from Graven to Samoan officials described the team as traveling on a vaccine-related "mission," the Guardian reported.

A measles outbreak sickens thousands in Samoa and kills 83 people, most of them children under five.

At two Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy tells Wyden: "I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system that would digitalize records in Samoa." He tells Sen. Ed Markey the next day: "My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines." The Senate confirms him 52-48.

The Guardian and AP publish the letters, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Wyden calls for a criminal referral; the watchdog group American Oversight asks the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Kennedy made false statements to Congress.