Issues@Hand

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July-August 2016 – Planned Parenthood lawyer Josh Schaffer boasted at a press conference that he “explicitly pushed” prosecutors to charge David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of Center for Medical Progress for their hidden-camera investigation aimed at exposing his client’s practices related to selling of fetal body parts.

Planned Parenthood has not been indicted, but ironically, a Harris County, Texas, grand jury indicted Daleiden and Merritt for offering to buy fetal tissue. Daleiden was also indicted on felony charges related to fake drivers’ licenses.

According to Daleiden’s lawyers, “Schaffer explicitly states he was kept abreast of the grand jury’s happenings by someone from the prosecutor’s office, clearly prov[ing] the secrecy of these proceedings were severely compromised.”

Thomas More Society special counsel Peter Breen said filings confirmed that the Harris County DA “shared confidential documents and information with abortion provider Planned Parenthood, colluding with it in the prosecution of David Daleiden.” Thomas More Society is a national public interest law firm.

Schaffer signed an affidavit denying the charge but admitted in a sworn declaration that the DA’s office shared materials and information with Planned Parenthood after the Texas attorney general’s office had forbidden them from doing so.”

“The conduct of Harris County prosecutors in this case is outrageous and illegal,” Breen said. “We look forward to pressing our motion to quash this indictment in court.”

breitbart.com, 5/24/16