Planned Parenthood under investigation by Justice Department over sale of fetal tissue
The Justice Department has launched a federal investigation into Planned Parenthood’s practices and the sale of fetal tissue.
In a letter first obtained by Fox News, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd formally requested unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee, the same panel that led the congressional probe into the women’s health organization.
“The Department of Justice appreciates the offer of assistance in obtaining these materials, and would like to request the Committee provide unredacted copies of records contained in the report, in order to further the Department’s ability to conduct a thorough and comprehensive assessment of that report based on the full range of information available,” Boyd wrote.
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Fox News has learned that last month , the FBI first requested the unredacted documents from the committee.
Fox News is told that Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said they needed to receive a letter and be assured that the documents would be used for investigative purposes.
The letter, sent to Grassley and Feinstein on Thursday, is a rare confirmation by the Justice Department of a federal investigation.
“At this point, the records are intended for investigative use only—we understand that a resolution from the Senate may be required if the Department were to use any of the unredacted materials in a formal legal proceeding, such as a grand jury,” Boyd also wrote.
A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
In the committee’s final report entitled “Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and Controversy” published in December 2016, Grassley referred Planned Parenthood and other providers to the FBI for investigation.
Grassley said at the time that the committee has discovered enough evidence that shows how abortion providers had transferred fetal tissue and body parts from aborted fetuses for research by charging amounts higher than they actually cost.
“The report documents the failure of the Department of Justice, across multiple administrations, to enforce the law that bans the buying and selling of human fetal tissue,” Grassley wrote last December urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate. “It also documents substantial evidence suggesting that the specific entities involved in the recent controversy, and/or individuals employed by those entities, may have violated that law.”
The now-federal investigation comes after a 2015 undercover investigation by activists David Daleiden, leader of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress, and Sandra Merritt, an employee of the group, who both posed as fetal researchers and made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.
The recorded conversations included officials from Planned Parenthood and StemExpress, a California company that provides blood, tissue and other biological material for medical research and has received fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood, at the time, strongly rejected accusations it violated any law or acted unethically. The group also “strongly” disagreed with Grassley’s recommendations to refer the matter to the Justice Department “especially in light of the fact that the investigations by three other Congressional committees, and investigations in 13 states including a Grand Jury in Texas, have all shown that Planned Parenthood did nothing wrong.”
“Over two years ago, citizen journalists at The Center for Medical Progress first caught Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors in a series of undercover videos callously and flippantly negotiating the sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains,” Daleiden said Thursday. “It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.”
The federal investigation by the Trump administration will reopen the years-long debate on whether Planned Parenthood and other providers violated the law with the illegal sale of body parts. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/07/planned-parenthood-under-investigation-by-justice-department-over-sale-fetal-tissue.html
Fox News has learned that last month , the FBI first requested the unredacted documents from the committee.
Fox News is told that Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said they needed to receive a letter and be assured that the documents would be used for investigative purposes.
The letter, sent to Grassley and Feinstein on Thursday, is a rare confirmation by the Justice Department of a federal investigation.
“At this point, the records are intended for investigative use only—we understand that a resolution from the Senate may be required if the Department were to use any of the unredacted materials in a formal legal proceeding, such as a grand jury,” Boyd also wrote.
A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
In the committee’s final report entitled “Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and Controversy” published in December 2016, Grassley referred Planned Parenthood and other providers to the FBI for investigation.
Grassley said at the time that the committee has discovered enough evidence that shows how abortion providers had transferred fetal tissue and body parts from aborted fetuses for research by charging amounts higher than they actually cost.
“The report documents the failure of the Department of Justice, across multiple administrations, to enforce the law that bans the buying and selling of human fetal tissue,” Grassley wrote last December urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate. “It also documents substantial evidence suggesting that the specific entities involved in the recent controversy, and/or individuals employed by those entities, may have violated that law.”
The now-federal investigation comes after a 2015 undercover investigation by activists David Daleiden, leader of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress, and Sandra Merritt, an employee of the group, who both posed as fetal researchers and made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.
The recorded conversations included officials from Planned Parenthood and StemExpress, a California company that provides blood, tissue and other biological material for medical research and has received fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood, at the time, strongly rejected accusations it violated any law or acted unethically. The group also “strongly” disagreed with Grassley’s recommendations to refer the matter to the Justice Department “especially in light of the fact that the investigations by three other Congressional committees, and investigations in 13 states including a Grand Jury in Texas, have all shown that Planned Parenthood did nothing wrong.”
“Over two years ago, citizen journalists at The Center for Medical Progress first caught Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors in a series of undercover videos callously and flippantly negotiating the sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains,” Daleiden said Thursday. “It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.”
The federal investigation by the Trump administration will reopen the years-long debate on whether Planned Parenthood and other providers violated the law with the illegal sale of body parts. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/07/planned-parenthood-under-investigation-by-justice-department-over-sale-fetal-tissue.html
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We need to get to the bottom of it. The Obama Justice Department was never going to do it.
We did get to the bottom of it: investigations into PP found no wrong doing.
Nope, We are going to put the Justice Department to good use now. It will no longer be investigating police departments and states who tried to protect their borders or shaking down investment banks to fund left wing organizations. It's morning in America
I think it's gonna turn out better than yours
Better than my what exactly?
I read the RNC cornered the market on fetus penis for a dietary supplement to old GOPers with performance issues.
I wonder how good the "original" investigations actually were.
Maybe O'Keefe was right.
Seems to be heading in that direction.
You bet!
Try:
"Here we go "NEW" AGAIN".....by an ACTUAL Justice Department.
See the difference yet ?
Oqueef was just caught trying to scam WaPo too, they turned the tables on him and caught him in his own BS. Priceless.
You didn't READ the article....AGAIN .....did you.
oooo...."Spill Chikers" are so col !
There are NO facts about Trump Colluding in the election. In "FACT" there is no "FACTS" about anyone "Colluding" in the Election. Just a money thing so far.
Do you have any other evidence that NO ONE has seen yet ?
Skirting the CoC [ph]
I think you are confused....
.
In U.S. politics , the Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape . [1] [2] Legislation, including the Hyde Amendment, generally restricts the use of funds allocated for the Department of Health and Human Services and consequently has significant effects involving Medicaid recipients. [1] [2] Medicaid currently serves approximately 6.5 million women in the United States, including 1 in 5 women of reproductive age (women aged 15–44). [3] [4]
The original Hyde Amendment was passed on September 30, 1976, by the House of Representatives , by a 207–167 vote. It was named for its chief sponsor, Republican Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois . The measure represents one of the first major legislative gains by the United States pro-life movement , especially the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment led by lobbyist Mark Gallagher, [5] after the striking-down of anti-abortion laws following the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade . Congress subsequently altered the Hyde Amendment several times. The version in force from 1981 until 1993 prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions “except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.” [6]
On October 22, 1993, President Clinton signed into law the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994. [7] The Act contained a new version of the Hyde Amendment that expanded the category of abortions for which federal funds are available under Medicaid to include cases of rape and incest. [8]
.
And there is jr.'s meeting to talk about adopting russian kids.. Oh wait..
No collusion, nothing illegal going on??? Then why all the constant lies??? Weird huh?
If that's true, then all Churches are tax paid for (through their tax exempt status) child prostitution rings. Churches get donations, which they pay no taxes on, for feeding the homeless and doing good work in their communities but virtually every Church has paid the victims of abuse in settlements. The Catholic Church has paid out $7 billion to their victims while not punishing their priests and in fact just moving them to other districts so they can rape again so the payments to victims is just like paying for unwilling prostitutes after the fact. And if comingling of funds makes your donation for the homeless soup kitchen the same as paying off those unwilling rape victims, then you're paying for priests to have sex with kids.
With Planned Parenthood, all government funds are only given for eligible services rendered. That means PP performs the health checkup or cancer screening for an eligible low income patient then they get reimbursed by the government for that service. None of that money goes to pay for any abortions which make up only 3% of their actual performed services. It seems to me like there is more separation of funds with PP than there is with Churches paying off rape victims.
They're not gonna listen, Patriot. Tho you speak truth
We know Flynn was literally making business deals within 11 minutes of the inauguration promising the existing sanctions, that were preventing those deals and potential financial windfall for Flynn and others related to the campaign, would be removed. This coming right after the sanctioned country had just helped them get into the white house enabling them to remove sanctions on Russia's behalf. We now know that almost every meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives revolved around two things, what the campaign wanted which was dirt on Hillary Clinton to be released, and sanctions on Russia being removed. You don't get a clearer pay-for-play collusion scenario than that. All that's left are for Muellers team to lay out the entire case before congress with all the pieces of the puzzle put together to show the big picture which is Trump and his campaign made a deal with Russia during the campaign which was a promise to remove sanctions including the Magnitsky act in return for illegally obtained damaging emails on Hillary and the DNC.
Really now. Do expand on that. I didn't know it was a bad thing for an elected.....ELECTED......president to tell his people to start doing their jobs. Should Trump have taken a vacation first, before he got down to the countries business ?
Bet you believed the Fake ABC report too.
Funny thing about that report....."Someone" got suspended for reporting CRAP !
NO COLLUSION HAS BEEN SHOWN IN ANY REPORT !
Where do you get your info anyway ?
Nice personal attack.... That's one of those CoC thingies isn't it?
He has been on vacation since he took office.
Deleted for skirting. D.
Gotta love the purposely uniformed huh.
Schumer Cried about nothing ?
So what are the Liberals bitching about then ?
do you even know what that means?
Weeellllll......it might be because he promised to be the hardest working POTUS ever and that he wouldn't be leaving the White House to play golf
I just can't find where he said he would NEVER leave the Whitehouse.
He did say he would work hard.
Funny thing, it must be working. Liberals are crying up a storm over what Trump has DONE....24/7 !
We all know what DONE means....right ?
Just what has he done, BTW?
Besides shit his pants on the golf course that is
p.s. did you forget all those tweets he made about Pres Obama golfing?
I'd have to say a Big Fat YES !
I watch "South Park" !
When the job in question is paying back the foreign government that illegally aided them during the election then yes, it's a bad thing. How are you not understanding this?
then you should understand why it's a personal attack against a man
Nothing burger !
Even the Big ol' Golden boy of the Liberal party, Alan Dershowitz, has said what is going on is ludicrous !
Oh....I'm Sorry....I must have missed the Gender box next to the name.
By the way....I thought the "IN THING" these days was gender neutral.
Facepalm
My Bad !
You tell me. The bitching about what he's done is deafening by Liberals. So....unless Liberals are just bitching to BITCH....he must have done something.....RIGHT ?
Please show where that happened.......PLEASE !
Then tell Mueller. He apparently needs a hand in his case.
By the way....and apparently this is a secret.....did you know that our government has been paying off other countries, waaaaaaaay before Trump became president ?
Ssssssssshhhhhhhh.......apparently some think our government was a "SAINT", before Trump !
You insulted MR Frost. I think the Mr part is a dead give away, don't you think?
we're done here
Are you still in denial? The preponderance of evidence that Russia did in fact aid the Trump campaign during the election is overwhelming.
"did you know that our government has been paying off other countries, waaaaaaaay before Trump became president ?"
For meddling in our elections helping one candidate win over another and expecting to be rewarded by the removal of sanctions? When has this happened before?
“I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” Trump at a campaign rally.
According to Politifact ‘s Trump Golf Tracker, the president has already outpaced Obama in the amount of time he spends on the green. As of Aug. 1 in the first year of both men’s presidencies, Trump played golf 21 times to Obama’s 11.
"Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job." — Think Like A Billionaire" - Donald Trump tweet at Obama
"Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter" Trump tweet
thanks for doing my homework
Apparently he got soooo much done, he now has the time.
I do that too.....working my butt off and then.....poof.....I get some time to myself.
Geeee.....who hasn't done that.
Good thing he's golfing now. no time for collusion.....with Russians.....huh.
I'll put that statement on the Hillary campaign using the Friggin Fake dossier on Trump, to wiretap the opposition at Trump tower.
By the way....where did that dossier come from anyway.
It's made out of Mos....COW too.. Enjoy!
In his first 300 days, he has spent 83 MILLION dollars on GOLF. Not bad for a guy that said he would be too busy to golf, and, complained for 8 years that Obama golfed too much....then went on to golf more in 6 months than Obama did in his first 4 YEARS. You know what the word, "hypocrisy", means right? LOL
You did know that republicans initially paid for that, right? Also, wiretapping trump tower was already debunked by almost all of out intel agencies.. Sorry!
British intelligence. Now Muller has it... Good times!
and they got it froooooom ?
Debunked during the campaign by MSM....not so much now !
What else has the MSM said that he has accomplished ?
Rachel is Russian ?
Who knew.
boy are you bossy
FACT: Taxes do not go towards abortions, per the Hyde Amendment.
FACT: PP provides other health services other than abortions.
People who believe this crap about PP are a bunch of sick fucks.
Republicans are opposed to:
Healthcare for the poor.
Food for the poor.
Housing for the poor.
Clothing for the poor.
Education for the poor.
And now, they want to raise taxes on the poor.
Yet they want to force people to have kids that they cannot afford? That's just stupid. All this is, is a control issue, republicans are historically misogynistic and they want to be able to control what women do with their own bodies... It's all about control, they could care less about actual babies. If it wasn't for democrats women wouldn't even be able to vote.
Lol.....And "I did not have sex with that woman"
Are you saying the "poor" can't control themselves and their actions??
I am saying that it's pretty stupid to deny the poor a means to NOT be poor anymore, then saddle them with a child they cannot afford. If you are preaching for abstinence, good luck. It's pretty odd that repubs are opposed to abortion when logically they should be screaming for more people to get one to avoid having to pay welfare. But again, it's all about control. Repubs just want to force women to have kids, then turn around and walk away, giving the mother no way to care for it properly. Hell, even Jeb! said, "I would have waited until Hitler was born, then killed him as a child, because abortion is wrong!" That's fucking SICK.
Are you denying the poor the right to have pleasure EVEN WHEN THEY ARE MARRIED?????
They can do whatever they want....on their OWN DIME !
Yer killing me....
The Party of Family Values.......
Why do you insist on separating women's reproductive system instead of allowing them the right to have their entire physical body covered by healthcare, INCLUDING BIRTH CONTROL? This is the ONLY area employers, religions and politicians have input to something they don't even understand since they AREN'T WOMEN. Give me an example of this being done to males.
?????????????
Now that's a hoot !
I don't separate !
I'm a believer in "humans fail". I believe that EVERY INDIVIDUAL is to blame for their OWN Fuckups !
It damn sure isn't my fault for YOUR Fuck up....but I always seem to have to pay for your Fuckup.
By the way....I pay for my own Fuckups....in case you were wondering.
Maybe you should work to get abortion banned and adopt all those babies that people can't afford. How many will you take in? 1? 10? 100? 1000? Hope you got deep pockets because the GOP will not help you raise any of those kids.
Nope...nope...nope...
The only solution is for women to keep their legs together. Deny their partners sex especially if they can't afford birth control.
do I really need the sarcasm button here?
And here's one of their esteemed leaders:
Scott Desjarlais
No doubt, PP would have been his choice for his mistress's abortion after which he'd have voted to outlaw PP (since he's a staunch "prolifer" and all). Hypocrisy and general scumbaggery are pre-requisites for being Republican these days.
I don't HOW the rw'ers can support this guy!
Not having a soul or any morality at all sure helps.
The fuck you do. You only ever apply that rule to people you want to attack.
Paying "ATTENTION" is a good thing in life. "TRY IT" ! It used to be taught in all the public schools when I was growing up. Were you taught that, or have things changed these days.
I've "Adopted" twice.
Now what's your excuse ?
How many children have YOU adopted anyway.
I have two kids that I didn't adopt, both of my children were PLANNED.
I admit...the first one was. The second one was a very pleasant surprise
(2) naturally planned, (2) adopted, and a 3rd naturally planned. Kids are great !
Or you could move to iran, iraq, etc...places that don't allow women to make decisions about their own healthcare, comrade.
Carly Fiorina bleated about baby parts in a nationally televised debate...2 weeks later Christian Robert Deer walked into a PP and shot and killed 3 people. Own it repubs.
I doubt he was a Republican, because most mass shooters are liberals.
You really said that.
The PP murderer was a teavangelical goober that had moved to the state prior. He's in the nuthouse now, where he belongs.
Don't confuse the poor man with facts.
I'm sure Dylan Roof was a liberal too <eye roll>
Yea, that always seems to be the case because the rest of the time the cons are screaming that liberals hate guns, but as soon as there is a shooting, it just had to be a liberal. Also, this guy was a Christian...um, I thought you cons said all liberals are godless sinners? Strike two. Want to go for three? Sure, lets! Carly Fiorina is a republican, this turd Mr. Deer was a supporter of hers because when he went on his little rampage, he was screaming, "no more baby parts!!!!!". Strike three. Sorry Bubba, Robert Deer is a far right wing Christian.. Deal with it.
Do you think Mr Block might own up to his error?
Go outside, pick up a rock and hold it in your palm, when the wind has reduced the rock to sand, I believe he will admit his error.
He's frantically searching the tea party media for a story that will support his claim. The anti-choice cult is no different than ISIS.
Until thumpers put their names on a list to adopt any baby available for adoption, they need to mind their own fucking business. Seems as though there's a 9 month difference between pro-choice people's idea of individual freedom and those that wish to dictate the direction of a personal decision. Just another assault on the Constitution by a radical religious cult that is now the backbone of the GOtP.
The Deplorables believe that this is a valid investigation and that the Mueller investigation is invalid.
That speaks volumes.