California agents sent by Attorney General Kamala Harris raided the home of anti-abortion activist who was behind the undercover videos allegedly showing the sale of fetal tissues by Planned Parenthood, said the activist last week.
David Daleiden, the founder of Center of Medical Progress, wrote on Facebook on April 5 that the agents "seized all video footage showing Planned Parenthood's criminal trade in aborted baby parts, in addition to my personal information."
The CMP has protested on its Facebook page, where Daleiden said that his "First Amendment work product" was seized, which referred to the stance of being an "undercover journalist."
The California authorities took his laptop and multiple hard drives from his apartment, which contained all the video footage he had gathered during the 30-month period of his investigative work, "including some very damning footage that has yet to be released to the public," he said in an email to The Washington Post.
Daleiden said that the raid was "an attack on citizen journalism."
CMP had released the undercover videos triggering investigations into the practices of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country. While Planned Parenthood was cleared by most state investigators, Daleiden was indicted by Houston grand jury for making a fake drivers' license to gain access to Planned Parenthood facilities and conferences to make the videos. Daleiden had maintained that this is a common technique used in investigative journalism.
"This is no surprise -- Planned Parenthood's bought-and-paid-for AG has steadfastly refused to enforce the laws against the baby body parts traffickers in our state, or even investigate them," he said.
He added that the agents did not take the documents with them which would have implicated Planned Parenthood for illegal activity associated with their handling of fetal tissue.
"Ironically, while seizing my First Amendment work product, they ignored documents showing the illicit scheme between StemExpress and Planned Parenthood," he wrote in the CMP statement.
State Attorney General's spokeswoman Rachele Huennekens declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, but said that California is among those states which are investigating possible criminal activity perpetrated by Daleiden and CMP.
Daleiden also suggested on his Facebook statement that the raid was politically motivated as Harris had taken campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood.
Last year Harris had said that she wanted to review the undercover videos to see if CMP transgressed the limitations of a state charity registration or reporting requirements which, according to her, included impersonation and filming videos without Planned Parenthood consent.
"We fully support a thorough investigation into the activities perpetrated by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress. As the evidence has shown in our case, he engaged in a long-running criminal conspiracy. His actions are not without consequences," Vicki Saporta, the CEO of the National Abortion Federation, said in a prepared statement.
Planned Parenthood has vehemently denied all the allegations of selling fetal tissues or doing anything illegal, and also sued Daleiden of fraud and invasion of privacy.
Matt Heffron, legal adviser to Daleiden and a former federal prosecutor, said the raid was "outrageously out of proportion for the type of crime alleged. It's a discredit to law enforcement [and] an oppressive abuse of government power."
