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DEVELOPING: Grand Jury Investigating Planned Parenthood Indicts Makers Of Videos Instead

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Instead Of Indicting Planned Parenthood, Texas Grand Jury Indicts Creators Of Highly Edited Videos

A Texas grand jury that was investigating Planned Parenthood just opted to not indict the women’s reproductive health care provider. Instead, it has handed down indictments for two of the makers of the controversial videos.

David Daleiden (photo), the founder of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), an anti-choice group that worked with Republican members of Congress for over a year to create the videos and create a marketing plan to release them, and another activist, have been indicted.

“Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count of related to purchasing human organs. Another activist was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record,” the Associated Press just reported. 

The second person indicted is Sandra Merritt, also of the CMP. Merritt is also “the founder and CEO of BioMax, the sham tissue procurement company created by the Center to gain entry into abortion clinics and medical conferences,” the Dallas Morning News adds.

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson “said the grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing.”

The videos are highly and selectively edited, and have been used as “evidence” by anti-abortion activists and anti-choice conservatives to fraudulently claim “Planned Parenthood sells aborted baby parts.”

Every state that has investigated Planned Parenthood in response to the videos has found no evidence of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood.

 

All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

UPDATE I: 5:32 PM –

Texas Tea Party Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had “ordered the investigation after a series of undercover videos released by anti-abortion activists accused the organization of illegally profiting from aborted fetuses,” ThinkProgress reports.

UPDATE II: 5:41 PM –

“Planned Parenthood, in a letter to Congress said Daleiden was involved in secretly recording Planned Parenthood staff and patients at least 65 times over the last eight years,” the Houston Chronicle reports. Planned Parenthood said CMP “also illegally taped private professional conversations of doctors and other medical providers and spliced together shards of long conversations to create short videos in order to spread false claims.”

UPDATE III: 5:55 PM –

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott promises to keep spending Texas tax dollars investigating Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that absolutely no one who has has found any evidence of illegal activity. 

UPDATE IV: 7:15 PM –

“If convicted of the top charge, Daleiden and Merritt could face up to 20 years behind bars,” Buzzfeed reports. 

UPDATE V: 7:42 PM –

Planned Parenthood Responds To Indictment Of Anti-Choice Activists Who Created Fake Videos

 

NEW: Planned Parenthood Videographers Respond To Felony Indictment

 

RELATED:

Ted Cruz Touts Endorsement Of Activist Who Argues Killing Abortion Doctors Should Be Justifiable Homicide

After 8 Unsuccessful Benghazi Investigations, GOP Launches Select Committee On Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood Sues Anti-Abortion Group That Made Undercover Videos

 

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This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates. 

 

Image by American Life League via Flickr and a CC license

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News

Death Penalty to Prayer: Nancy Mace’s Shifting Positions on Kirk’s Alleged Killer

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Over the course of two days, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has taken starkly shifting positions on the alleged assassin of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk—repeatedly blaming Democrats, calling for the death penalty, then urging prayer for the suspect to find Jesus Christ.

When news broke on Wednesday that Kirk—who had a large following on the right, and was close with President Donald Trump and his family—had been shot and had died, Mace declared, “They killed Charlie Kirk.” She did not specify who she thought “they” were.

Two hours later, Mace wrote, “It’s time to bring back the death penalty.” By late Thursday morning, she charged, “The Left owns what happened yesterday.”

She also posted video of herself from Wednesday, before Kirk had been pronounced dead, saying she was “devastated.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Pride Flag Ban Would Help End Political Violence

Using a slur for transgender people, she said that Kirk, when he was shot, was talking about mass violence.

“I hope that every single Democrat across the country will stand up and acknowledge that they have a problem within their party,” she urged. “So when are my colleagues on the left side of the aisle, the Democrats, going to own the violence that’s happening in this country against Republicans and against conservatives?”

“It’s only going to get better if Democrats step up to the plate and take responsibility for what’s happening in this country—the threats that are happening—and come together.”

“Democrats own this. Democrats own this,” she said. “Democrats own this 100%.”

Less than two hours after that post, echoing her earlier claim, she added: “Let me say this as nice as I can: DEMOCRATS OWN THIS.”

On Thursday, responding to now-retracted reports that the alleged shooter might have been transgender, or pro-transgender, Mace posted video of her telling reporters, “Enough is enough.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Left’s Ideology Is ‘Pure Evil’

Again using a slur for transgender people, she said it “sounds like” the shooter was transgender or pro-transgender.

“The left, the Democrat Party, has allowed this stuff to happen,” she also charged.

Late Friday morning, Mace posted an image of the alleged assassin, about whom little was known, and wrote: “Bring back the death penalty.”

Also on Friday, amid reports that the alleged shooter, identified as Tyler Robinson, had turned himself in to law enforcement, Congresswoman Mace wrote: “We know Charlie Kirk would want us to pray for such an evil, and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ. We will try to do the same.”

Less than one hour later, she added, “We truly believe if Tyler Robinson had ever sat down across from Charlie, the great debater, the man of faith and grace he was, Tyler wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.”

Friday afternoon, she concluded, “Some crimes are so evil, the only just punishment is the death penalty.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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Eric Trump Echoes Father’s Rhetoric After Kirk Assassination to Hawk His Memoir

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Eric Trump railed against “radical left lunatics” in a tirade of grievances—parroting the same rhetoric his father used in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk—as he hawked his new memoir, “Under Siege.”

“As to what the radical left lunatics were trying to do to our family, what the movement that we created, and it’s a movement of good. It’s exactly what Charlie epitomized,” the President’s son declared to podcaster Benny Johnson.

“You know, we’re all watching, and we see exactly what happened to Charlie,” he explained.

“That is us being under siege,” he told Johnson. “That is that is our party, that is our movement.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

“That is God being under siege,” he declared. “That’s our Constitution being under siege. That’s our American flag being under siege . That’s our family unit in this country being under siege. That’s our democracy being under siege. Everything that we love, everything that we fought for.”

“It’s every one of those college kids that’s indoctrinated,” he complained. “It’s all of them being under siege. It’s a revisionist history that they teach in our schools.”

Trump said he will donate part of the proceeds of the book to Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, “because here’s what you and I and all the other people can never allow happen: We cannot allow his mission, you know, to ever die, it won’t.”

He also claimed that “the bullets are only going one way,” suggesting that the left, not the right, is responsible for violence.

Trump went on to describe where he was when his father’s attempted assassination took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. He also invoked the 2017 shooting of Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, and “what almost happened to [Brett] Kavanaugh. And then we see what happens to Charlie Kirk.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Pride Flag Ban Would Help End Political Violence

“I mean, the bullets are only flying one way, and yet I get to hear the nonsense, and I get to watch all these networks every night,” he said.

“I mean, how is it that you know, the decorum is only going one way in this country, and yet we’re the ones that are labeled as the ‘fascist’? Isn’t that kind of ironic?”

“You know, hey, the Republicans in this country are generally the ones that have the guns. We’re the ones that believe in the Second Amendment. You know, they’re not doing this shooting.”

On Friday morning in a social media post with a photo of his book, Trump wrote, “Like all of you, I have been deeply impacted by Charlie’s life. His story is not over. This movement is not over, and there is still so much more to be done. In honor of Charlie’s life and his incredible legacy, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds from Under Siege to Turning Point USA to continue their amazing work.”

Pointing to that post, The Daily Beast wrote that Trump was using Kirk’s death “to sell his book.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Left’s Ideology Is ‘Pure Evil’

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

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Trump Declares Inflation ‘Solved’ as Americans Pay More for Gas and Groceries

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President Donald Trump has declared inflation “solved” as Americans are paying more for everyday goods like gas and groceries.

“I’ve already solved inflation,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning. “Costs are down.”

Inflation is now the highest it’s been since January, according to CNBC.

“Look at the energy costs,” he added. “You’re gonna have $2 gasoline pretty soon.”

The national average price of gas as of Friday is $3.19, according to AAA. Nationwide, prices are as high as $4.65 and as low as $2.71.

READ MORE: Republican Says Pride Flag Ban Would Help End Political Violence

The president went on to boast, “I’ve solved just about every problem.”

But statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show Americans are paying more—in some cases far more—at the pump and at the checkout line.

“Inflation inched higher last month as Americans closed out the summer paying more for both groceries and gasoline,” NPR reported on Thursday. “Consumer prices in August were up 2.9% from a year ago, according to a report Thursday from the Labor Department. That’s a sharper annual increase than the previous month, when inflation was clocked at 2.7%.”

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to lower prices “on day one.”

Yet, due in part to his sweeping tariffs, “Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, some substantially so,” according to Axios. “This was the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2022, the tail end of a year of huge monthly increases in grocery prices.”

READ MORE: Republican Says Left’s Ideology Is ‘Pure Evil’

The price of coffee is up nearly 21%, the price of uncooked beef steaks is up nearly 17%, apples are up nearly 10%, and bananas are up almost 7%.

Overall, the cost of groceries in August was up 0.6% over July’s prices, and the price of gas jumped 1.9% in just one month, according to NPR.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist Playbook’: Trump Blasted for ‘Gas on the Fire’ Kirk Assassination Address

 

Image via Reuters

 

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