The perps who started it all have been hit with 15 felony charges by state prosecutors in California.
The anti-abortion activists who selectively edited their footage and accused Planned Parenthood of selling body parts, prompting a congressional investigation and a fresh wave of attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, have been charged with conspiracy.
State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra’s office alleges that David Daleiden and his co-conspirator, Sandra Merritt, filmed 14 people without their consent at meetings with women’s healthcare providers in Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Franciso and El Dorado. [...]
Prosecutors filed 14 felony counts of unlawfully recording people without their permission — one count for each person — as well as one count of conspiracy to invade privacy.
Daleiden has responded by calling the charges "fake news" which I don't think is going to hold up in a court room. He can "fake news" himself all the way to prison.
Daleiden and Merritt deserve much worse. Their conspiracy cost state and federal taxpayers a significant amount of money. Federal taxpayers paid for a shambolic congressional investigation by a select committee that quickly devolved into a debate over scientific ethics. State taxpayers paid for numerous failed attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by unilaterally excluding the organization from Medicaid reimbursements. State taxpayers also paid for sweeping health department investigations that turned up nothing.
The conspiracy also led to a wave of death threats against research scientists looking for cures for deadly diseases.
And that's barely scratching the surface of untold devilry.
Elected Republicans in Congress and state legislatures across the country obviously deserve a significant share of the blame for playing along. They chose to exploit an obviously bullshit claim for their own political purposes.