Trump nominee forced to update ethics pledge as 'conflict of interest' endangers confirmation

31 January

Late January brought Senate confirmation hearings for some of President Donald Trump's most controversial nominees: Kash Patel (Trump's pick for FBI director), Tulsi Gabbard (Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence), and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is hoping to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) was among the Senate Democrats who aggressively grilled RFK Jr. during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, January 29. Warren hammered the HHS Secretary-designate on was his lawsuits against drug makers. Now, Politico is reporting that Kennedy "will give up his financial stake in an ongoing lawsuit over the HPV vaccine Gardasil" if confirmed.

Politico reporters Lauren Gardner and Adam Cancryn explain, "In a written response submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy said he was amending his ethics pledge and planned to 'divest my interest in this litigation.' Any proceeds stemming from the suit will instead go to one of his sons, according to a copy of his correspondence obtained by Politico."

But this "arrangement," Gardner and Cancryn report, "is still likely to face scrutiny from ethics experts" — and is failing to "appease" Warren.

During the hearing, the Politico reporters note, Kennedy initially "refused to commit to forgoing his stake in litigation against the drug company Merck."

"Kennedy initially stood to collect 10 percent of any fees awarded in the lawsuit over Merck's HPV vaccine, through a referral arrangement with the law firm Wisner Baum," according to Gardner and Cancryn. "Federal conflict-of-interest law forbids government workers from 'participating personally and substantially in official matters where they have a financial interest,' according to the Office of Government Ethics, the independent agency that oversees federal nominees' pledges. That prohibition also extends to the interests of their spouses, partners and minor children."

Warren, in an official statement reported by the Washington Post, said, "RFK Jr.'s nomination must not move forward to any Senate vote until the details of his revised ethics agreement can be thoroughly reviewed."

Kennedy, according to the Post, is saying "that he will amend his ethics forms after questions about his financial stake in litigation against a manufacturer of a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV."

During the hearing, Warren wanted to make sure that Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy Sr. (R-Massachusetts) and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy (who was assassinated in 1963), wouldn't, if confirmed, use his position as HHS director to profit from lawsuits.

Warren, during the hearing, told RFK Jr., "You just said that you want the American people to know you can't be bought, your decisions won't depend on how much money you could make in the future, you won’t go to work for a drug company after you leave HHS. But you and I both know there's another way to make money."

A testy RFK Jr. told Warren, "You’re asking me to not sue drug companies, and I'm not going to agree to that."

The Washington Post's Dan Diamond notes that during the hearing, Warren was "pressing Kennedy to commit to not taking fees from suing drug companies, as she argued that it presented a conflict of interest."

In a January 31 post on X, formerly Twitter, Diamond reported, "RFK Jr had denied a possible conflict of interest when pressed by @SenWarren at hearing this week Warren now says it's grounds to delay the nomination."

The Post reported also tweeted, "RFK's stake in the litigation received broad attention after a NYT report last week Caroline Kennedy cited it as a reason for the Senate not to confirm her cousin RFK Jr has pitched himself as someone who will root out conflicts of interest."

Read Politico's full article at this link and the Washington Post's reporting here (subscription required).

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