David Daleiden and his group, the Center for Medical Progress, have been in the news a lot in recent weeks due to the release of propaganda-laced, heavily edited videos which purport to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue to interested buyers.
Tuesday morning, Daleiden was questioned about his group’s ties to violent anti-choice groups during an appearance on CNN’s morning show.
CNN host Alisyn Camerota directly asked Daleiden:
“Critics of your organization say that you’re not journalists as you purport to be on your website, but rather you’re violent extremists. They say that you are operating under the guise of investigative reporting, but really you’re trying to shut down all Planned Parenthoods and women’s access to things like birth control and other services that they provide. Do you have any ties to Operation Rescue?”
To which Daleiden replied:
“I’m not a violent person and I never have been and I never will be. Troy Newman is one of the board members of the Center for Medical Progress.”
And who is Troy Newman? He’s the president of Operation Rescue, which, over the years, has threatened family planning clinics with violence, harassed women who show up for appointments, and championed people who shoot and kill doctors who perform legal abortion services.
But Daleiden attempted to pretend that Operation Rescue doesn’t have a tie to extremists:
“You know, I don’t think that’s true at all. You would have to talk to Troy specifically about, you know, the full history of Operation Rescue and some of those details. But I don’t think that’s a fair characterization at all.”
Camerota also noted that biotech companies have confirmed that Planned Parenthood never sold fetal tissue and that the group was only reimbursed for the cost of storage and processing, which is allowed by federal law.
Daleiden’s response to that query was to tell Camerota it was “really cute.”
Which doesn’t exactly answer the question, now does it?
Near the end of the interview, Daleiden promised that his group has more lies they plan to disseminate via video:
“You’re going to see evidence in it of Planned Parenthood is actually willing to sell fully intact fetuses to buyers of aborted fetal tissue. It’s prima facie evidence of born alive infant cases.”
But when you consider the company David Daleiden and his group keep, it quickly becomes clear that what they say is not credible in the least. If they want to investigate something, they should start by looking in the mirror.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.