Kamala Harris stands accused of “weaponizing” the California Attorney General’s office against a pro-life activist who alleges he was exposing the illegal sale of aborted fetuses.
David Daleiden, whose nine-year legal saga instigated by Harris is still ongoing, released shocking undercover videos he took of Planned Parenthood executives discussing fees and prices for fetal tissues in July 2015.
He now faces eight felony charges and possible jail time for making the videos without getting the executives’ permission to film them, as well as “manufacturing” a fake driving license.
Daleiden’s lawyers say it’s one the first times the California AG’s office has ever undertaken a stand-alone prosecution involving the state’s video-recording law.
His lawyers, who include Steve Cooley, Los Angeles’s second-longest serving DA, contend Harris — who served as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017 — singled him out to do the bidding of Planned Parenthood, who have contributed heavily to her campaigns for office.
“What Kamala Harris did was unconstitutional and vindictive,” Cooley told The Post. “It was a selective prosecution for huge donors.
“Kamala Harris opened this investigation at the behest of Planned Parenthood and the two AGs that followed her have kept it alive.”
The offices of Harris, who is now Vice President and Planned Parenthood did not respond to requests for comment for this story from The Post. The California Attorney General’s office said they do not comment on ongoing criminal investigations.
Daleiden’s first undercover video, released by Center for Medical Progress (CMP), was made covertly and depicted Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services referring to fetal hearts, lungs and livers and about efforts made to retrieve these organs intact rather than crushing them during the abortion procedure.
Nucatola has never faced any charges resulting from the video. She did not return calls for comment from The Post.
Politico referred to Daleiden in 2105 as the activist whose Planned Parenthood sting “almost single-handedly… reshaped the national conversation on abortion.”
However, his one-bedroom home in Orange County, Calif. was raided days after the video was posted, by 11 state Department of Justice agents armed with rifles and K-9 dogs.
Planned Parenthood executives in California had arranged for in-person meetings with Harris about the videos, letters obtained from court documents show.
In Oct. 2015, a staffer in the AG’s office emailed his colleagues about Harris’ desire to move forward “sooner rather than later” with a case against Daleiden.
Harris was running for Senate in 2016 and was endorsed by Planned Parenthood while overseeing the investigation against Daleiden which included authorizing the raid on his home.
Once she was elected, Harris hired Lily Adams, the daughter of Cecile Richards, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, to be one of her top aides.
Daleiden and a colleague, Sandra Merritt, were initially charged with 15 felonies in 2017 – including one count of conspiracy to invade privacy and 14 counts of filming people without permission.
A few months later the LA Times editorial board published an editorial calling the criminal charges a “disturbing overreach” by the Attorney General’s office. Two years later, the state reduced the charges.
The Los Angeles Police Department refused to take the case when one of the Planned Parenthood executives videotaped by Daleiden’s group made a complaint.
According to a police report obtained by The Post, the LAPD turned down the case, saying the taping had been done in a public place where many could hear the conversation.
While the CMP contended at the time Daleiden’s videos revealed illegalities, Planned Parenthood said their people discussed legal, not-for-profit donation of fetal tissue to research firms.
In 2022, Daleiden and the CMP lost their challenge to a $2.4 million civil judgment against them after a jury found they had broken the law by secretly recording Planned Parenthood employees.
Nine years after the videos were release, Daleiden is still awaiting trial on the felony counts in San Francisco Superior Court.
In the meantime, more footage taken by CMP has emerged after it was subpoenaed by Congressional subcommittees.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) released some of the unseen footage on her website Tuesday as part of her investigation into what she called “the black market of baby organ harvesting.”
One five-minute video shows a discussion between a person identified as Dr. Stacy De-Lin, Planned Parenthood New York City Medical Director for Abortion Services, and an undercover activist with CMP.
During their conversation, De-Lin appears to acknowledge that Planned Parenthood would sell the livers of aborted fetuses.