Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is under fresh scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers after changing an ethics pledge he made before being confirmed to his post. Last year, prior to his confirmation, Kennedy promised to give up any financial benefits from legal cases he had led against pharmaceutical companies involved in making a cervical cancer vaccine known as Gardasil. He told officials at the time that he would transfer his financial rights in these cases to his adult son. However, recent findings show that Kennedy altered his ethics filings shortly after those hearings, assigning the rights to his former employer, the personal injury law firm Wisner Baum, instead of following through on his initial promise. A group of Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, sent a letter to Kennedy on Thursday, expressing concern over the change. The lawmakers said they were not satisfied with the explanation for the revision and criticized his lack of transparency. "Your decision to withhold this information from Congress and apparent failure to report this change to agency ethics officials is deeply alarming," the senators wrote. They also raised concerns about whether Kennedy had violated federal ethics laws and questioned the truthfulness of his earlier public commitments. Kennedy has faced criticism before for his statements under oath. During his confirmation process, which required support from Republican senators, he pledged to uphold current vaccine policies and later promised that a 2019 trip to Samoa had no connection to vaccines. However, recently released documents suggested otherwise, though the Department of Health and Human Services has denied that Kennedy lied about the trip. In his original ethics filing from January 2025, Kennedy was allowed to keep a 10 percent contingency fee from legal cases he had directed to Wisner Baum. After lawmakers raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, he agreed to change his ethics agreement to transfer those interests to his son. However, a communication sent to Senator Warren on August 25 revealed that Kennedy ultimately assigned the rights directly to Wisner Baum, where his son, Conor Kennedy, is employed. The lawmakers are now demanding more information about the agreement and are warning that any future financial arrangements with Wisner Baum could create a conflict of interest. They emphasized that such arrangements could undermine Kennedy’s credibility and the integrity of his decisions as HHS Secretary.