Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump‘s nominee for secretary of health and human services, vowed to divest from a pending vaccine lawsuit if he is confirmed, reversing a previous position.
Kennedy has faced concerns from senators during his confirmation hearing over possible financial conflicts of interest with the position he is seeking in Trump’s Cabinet. One of the concerns levied by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stemmed from Kennedy’s financial ties to a lawsuit against Merck regarding its human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil.
In the original ethics agreement Kennedy had filed, he stated he would keep a 10% contingency fee with law firm Wisner Baum as long as the federal government does not get involved in the litigation. Kennedy said in the agreement that he would “retain an interest in contingency fee cases that do not involve claims against the United States and in which the United States is not a party and does not have a direct and substantial interest.”
A report from Politico on Friday states Kennedy sent a response to the Senate Finance Committee that he would update his ethics agreement and planned to divest his interest from the Gardasil lawsuit. Kennedy would defer any proceeds from the litigation to one of his sons, according to the report.
Warren said in a post on X on Friday that the changes to the ethics agreement by Kennedy only add more questions to his ability to perform the job.
“I pressed RFK Jr. on his dangerous conflicts of interest that mean he could profit off an anti-vax lawsuit while head of HHS. Now, he’s admitting there’s a problem — but we have more questions than answers,” Warren said.
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“RFK Jr.’s nomination must be delayed until these conflicts are resolved,” she added.
Kennedy had his second Senate hearing Thursday as Trump’s Cabinet picks make their way through the Senate confirmation process. The president has not seen a nominee fail a Senate vote, but some of his most controversial picks, including Kennedy, have yet to face votes from the upper chamber of Congress.