An anti-abortion activist said agents from the California Department of Justice raided his home and stole videos that he claims, showed Planned Parenthood officials planning illegal sales of fetal tissue, according to
Fox News.
David Daleiden, founder of the Center of Medical Progress said in a Facebook post the agents took videos that showed "Planned Parenthood's criminal trade in aborted body parts."
A Texas grand jury in January cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing in the videos and indicted Daleiden and colleague Sandra Merritt for using fake driver's licenses to get into a Houston clinic.
Daleiden "engaged in a long-running criminal conspiracy," said Vicki Saporta, president of The National Abortion Federation, reports
The Washington Post.
"David Daleiden's lies are finally catching up with him," said Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Erick Sackin to the Post.
Center for Medical Progress spokesman Peter Robbio said the post was authentic, but did not comment about the raid. Rachele Huennekens, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala Harris, said she could not comment about any ongoing investigations.
Daleiden said the raid was "an attack on citizen journalism" and he would "pursue all remedies to vindicate our First Amendment rights."
The raid was "outrageously out of proportion," and "an oppressive abuse of government power," said Matt Heffron, Daleiden's legal advisor, reports Fox News.
Unreleased footage from a civil court case shows a woman in one of the videos rehearsing her speech with Daleiden, according to a report in the
Los Angeles Times.