As California attorney general, Kamala D. Harris launched an investigation into David Daleiden for secretly filming Planned Parenthood officials as part of his hidden-camera probe into fetal-tissue trafficking, and he doesn’t want anyone to forget it.
On the eve of the Wednesday vice-presidential debate, Mr. Daleiden, founder of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress, released a video accusing Ms. Harris of doing Planned Parenthood’s bidding by order a raid on his apartment and seizing his video and computer equipment after meeting with Planned Parenthood executives in Los Angeles.
“It’s pretty obvious that the reason that I alone was targeted by Kamala Harris was because I dared to criticize Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry,” Mr. Daleiden said in the six-minute video. “What Kamala Harris did isn’t treating people fairly or equally under the video recording law.”
Ms. Harris, a longtime Planned Parenthood supporter and now a U.S. senator, is running on the Democratic ticket with presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden. She faces Vice President Mike Pence in the Tuesday night debate.
In November, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded Planned Parenthood $2.3 million after finding Mr. Daleiden guilty of conspiring to commit fraud, trespassing, and violating state and federal recording laws. He has appealed the decision.
▶️ WATCH: https://t.co/XDj9Tz0I6z
— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) October 6, 2020
I am not the first person to ever do undercover video reporting in California.
But @KamalaHarris as Attorney General weaponized her police powers to single me out and punish my message to cover up for her fetus-trafficking backers at @PPFA
Mr. Daleiden filed a lawsuit in May against Ms. Harris, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Planned Parenthood accusing them of conspiring to punish him for “disfavored speech.”
“I will never bow to the tyrannical vision of leaders like Kamala Harris who believe that they are entitled to tell us what to think, what to believe, and what to say,” Mr. Daleiden said.
In the latest video, Mr. Daleiden pointed to emails showing that Ms. Harris met with Planned Parenthood officials in March 2016, two weeks before ordering a raid on his home in Orange County, as well as a state Department of Justice document that said “Planned Parenthood would like the computers used to produce the videos seized.”
Her investigation stemmed from Mr. Daleiden’s explosive videos released in 2015 as part of his undercover investigation into the sale of fetal tissue for medical research. Two California bioscience firms that obtained aborted fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood affiliates were ultimately shut down by Orange County prosecutors.
“America’s biggest abortion business was desperate and furious, so they turned to their biggest patron, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, for help,” Mr. Daleiden said. “At Planned Parenthood’s special request, Kamala Harris targeted me to punish and silence my message about the abortion industry and fetal trafficking.”
The Washington Times has reached out to Ms. Harris. Planned Parenthood has denied engaging in illegal activity, and prosecutors have argued that they typically meet with witnesses and others involved in cases of potential wrongdoing before filing charges.
Mr. Daleiden was charged in March 2017, after Ms. Harris left office to serve in the Senate, with violating the state’s eavesdropping law, which bans secretly recording conversations without the consent of both parties, unless they may “reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard.”
He cited examples of local television stations and an animal rights group that engaged in undercover recording but were not prosecuted, even though some of the filming took place in private, whereas his footage was filmed in public places such as restaurants.
“You can’t necessarily say the same thing about local TV reporters in California who have taped inside of private doctor’s offices and inside of private homes, yet not a single one of them have ever been charged with undercover video recording in California in the 60-year history of California’s video-recording law,” Mr. Daleiden said. “Mine is the first and only case.”
In a 2017 statement about the case, Mr. Becerra said that the “right to privacy is a cornerstone of California’s Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society. We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversation.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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