Kamala Harris seized video evidence exposing Planned Parenthood as dealing in aborted baby parts when she was California AG

Kamala Harris ordered the seizure of undercover videos that exposed the selling of baby parts from Planned Parenthood when she was the attorney general of California in 2016.

In a thread of undercover videotapes posted by journalist David Daleiden, top-tier Planned Parenthood officials talked about selling livers for $1,500 as well as ripping off the legs of unborn infants in order to avoid classifying a late-term abortion as a partial-birth abortion. Daleiden is now facing eight felony charges for exposing the abortion organization and may face jail time, per the New York Post. 

Daleiden posted the thread of videos, saying that when he lived in California, Harris as the Attorney General "led a cover-up of late-term abortion crimes" by seizing the tapes. The Planned Parenthood officials spoke of selling and trading baby parts such as livers, lungs, kidneys, legs, and other tissue. Planned Parenthood executives in California arranged meetings with Harris over the videos, according to Daleiden's lawyers who spoke to The Post. On Oct. 15, 2015, a staffer in Harris' office said that the then-AG wanted to move forward with the case "sooner rather than later."

Daleiden said that in 2015, Planned Parenthood asked Harris to "seize all the undercover video" that he had. He asked rhetorically in the thread, “Did [Harris] know they were giggling about selling livers for $1,500 and ripping legs off live babies to hide partial-birth abortions?” 

The last video on the thread he posted says that Harris "sent 11 armed agents to raid my apartment anyway, and seized all the undercover footage for Planned Parenthood. A state judge ruled years later it was obviously in public—but the damage to me and my team was already done." 

After she was elected to the Senate in 2016, Harris hired Lily Adams, the daughter of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards to be one of her top aides. Daleiden and his colleague Sandra Merritt, were initially charged with 15 felonies later in 2017. Following the charges, the LA Times editorial board came out with an op-ed calling the charges from the Attorney General's office, the state reduced the charges.  

These were largely related to conspiracy to invade privacy and about filming people without permission. The LA Police turned down the case when a person from Planned Parenthood made a complaint, saying that they were filmed in a public area. 

Daleiden said that Harris would have known what the tapes were about, as some of them had already been viewed millions of times on YouTube. 

According to the LA Times, agents from then-Attorney General Harris' office searched and seized video from Daleiden's apartment in 2016. Harris' office did not comment on the case at the time as it was considered to be an ongoing investigation. In 2017, the office of Harris' successor, Xavier Becerra, sent out a warrant for his arrest, charging him with the initial 15 felonies in the case.