The home of Center for Medical Progress Director David Daleiden was raided by the California Department of Justice on Tuesday afternoon.
In the raid, California officials seized all video footage pertaining to Daleiden’s undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood, as well as personal information belonging to Daleiden. Multiple sources indicate that some of the footage seized had not yet been released and may have held more incriminating evidence against Planned Parenthood.
Daleiden rose to national prominence after releasing a series of videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials admitting to a sale and purchase program for aborted fetal tissue. Subsequently, a number of states launched investigations into Planned Parenthood affiliate activities to determine whether or not the affiliates broke the law.
Kamala Harris, the Attorney General of California and the head of the California Department of Justice, has led the efforts to discredit Daleiden and his organization’s work, working to investigate him for wrongdoing instead of Planned Parenthood. Attorney General Harris, who is also currently running for U.S. Senate, has previously accepted campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood.
This raid came after new revelations that a consent form used by Planned Parenthood affiliates to acquire permission for tissue donation — similar to the form used in Washington State — used language that a Congressional Committee determined to be coercive and factually incorrect. See video below:
Daleiden released this statement following the raid:
Today (Tuesday), the California Attorney General’s office of Kamala Harris, who was elected with tens of thousands of dollars from taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood, seized all video footage showing Planned Parenthood’s criminal trade in aborted baby parts, in addition to my personal information.
Ironically, while seizing my First Amendment work product, they ignored documents showing the illicit scheme between StemExpress and Planned Parenthood. This is no surprise–Planned Parenthood’s bought-and-paid-for AG has steadfastly refused to enforce the law against the baby body parts traffickers in our state, or even investigate them–while at the same time doing their bidding to harass and intimidate citizen journalists. We will pursue all remedies to vindicate our First Amendment rights.
FPIW has initiated a public records request with Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office to review all documents pertaining to their purported investigation of Planned Parenthood in our state.
