Technician details harvesting fetal parts for Planned Parenthood in latest video

A technician who said she worked for a company that partnered with Planned Parenthood to harvest fetal tissue said there’s “incentive to try and get the hard stuff ‘cause you’re going to get more money,” in the latest undercover video targeting Planned Parenthood.
“For whatever we could procure, they would get a certain percentage,” said Holly O’Donnell, identified as an ex-procurement technician for StemExpress, a Placerville, Calif., company. “The main nurse was always trying to make sure we got our specimens. No one else really cared, but the main nurse did because she knew that Planned Parenthood was getting compensated.”
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: Click to see latest undercover Planned Parenthood video
The new, graphic video from the Center for Medical Progress appears to show technicians using tweezers to pick through aborted fetal tissue for baby parts. After one person in the video picks out a pair of intact kidneys someone off-camera laughs and says, “Five stars!”
O’Donnell said she fainted the first time she was part of this process and was told by someone in the room, “some of us don’t ever get over it.”

“If you can somehow procure a brain or a heart you’re going to get more money than just Chorionic villi or umbilical cord.”
- Holly O'Donnell

O'Donnell said she worked for six months identifying pregnant women at Planned Parenthood who met the standards for fetal tissue orders and then helped to harvest fetal body parts after abortions at Planned Parenthood facilities.
StemExpress “supplies human blood, tissue products, primary cells and other clinical specimens to biomedical researchers around the world,” according to its website.
O’Donnell describes the company a different way.

Related Image

Expand / Contract

Holly O’Donnell says she worked for six months for a company that procured tissue and organs for Planned Parenthood, which then presumably shipped them to research labs. (Screengrab, Center for Medical Progress video)

“StemExpress is a company that hires procurement techs to draw blood and dissect dead fetuses and sell the parts to researchers,” she said. “They’ve partnered with Planned Parenthood and they get part of the money because we pay them to use their facilities. And they get paid from it. They do get some kind of benefit.”
Planned Parenthood has denied selling fetal tissue for a profit, which is against federal law.
“If you can somehow procure a brain or a heart you’re going to get more money than just Chorionic villi or umbilical cord,” O’Donnell said.

Related Image

Expand / Contract

In the latest video, the undercover team cites this fee schedule, which it says contains prices a lab will pay for fetal tissue and organs. (Screengrab, Center for Medical Progress)

The video is the third to be released by the Center for Medical Progress. Like the first two, it contains undercover video of Planned Parenthood officials and associates, but is heavily reliant on an interview with O’Donnell.
Previous videos show Dr. Mary Gatter, a Planned Parenthood medical director in Southern California, meeting with people posing as buyers of fetal specimens. The conversation focuses on how much money the buyers should pay, although Planned Parenthood insists that it only sought to cover its expenses. The videos have brought investigations of Planned Parenthood's policies on aborted fetuses by three Republican-led congressional committees and three states.
Federal law prohibits the commercial sale of fetal tissue, but it allows the not-for-profit donation of tissue if the women who underwent abortions give their consent. Planned Parenthood says the payments discussed in the videos pertain to reimbursement for the costs of procuring the tissue -- which is legal.

House lawmaker files motion to oust Boehner

In a move unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives, a Republican lawmaker filed a motion Tuesday to remove House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from his post, in another sign of dissatisfaction with Boehner’s leadership by a number of House conservatives.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., filed the resolution -- a “motion to vacate the chair” -- late Tuesday, claiming that he “has endeavored to consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority of the 435 Members of Congress and the people they represent.”
The proposal was referred to a committee stocked with leadership loyalists, and therefore unlikely to emerge.
The motion says that Boehner has caused the power of Congress to atrophy, “thereby making Congress subservient to the Executive and Judicial branches, diminishing the voice of the American People.”
The motion also claims that Boehner has used the power of his office to “punish Members who vote according to their conscience instead of the will of the Speaker.”
Last month, the leadership briefly stripped Meadows of his subcommittee chairmanship over his votes but later relented after conservatives objected.
The resolution could place House Democrats in a difficult, and unusual, position. Democrats would face a dilemma of either voting to help preserve Boehner – with whom they have frequently clashed – or backing House conservatives and gambling on pandemonium by helping to throw Boehner out.
Some GOP members told Fox News that Meadow’s resolution is the best thing that could happen for President Obama, taking attention away from the contentious issues of the Iranian nuclear deal, and the swirling controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood for the August recess.
A senior GOP source told Fox News that the motion would now make the Republican leadership the topic du jour instead of the Iran deal.
Allies of Boehner were quick to condemn Meadow's resolution.
“People are stunned. People are angry that somebody would pull this stunt,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.
"You don't raise any money, you need a way to raise money, you do gimmicks like this," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who is close to Boehner.
However, Meadows told Fox News that he has not raised any money off the issue, and dismissed the concern that it would distract from other issues: "To say we can only have one message is to imply that in our town halls we can have only one question at a time."
"I don’t like being in the limelight," Meadows added. "It is fearful when you have to do this. You have to work up courage."
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., backed Meadows, telling The Associated Press that GOP leadership is "not listening to the American people." Jones complained specifically about leadership not allowing quick votes against same-sex marriage and federal money for Planned Parenthood.
Speaker Boehner was not expected to address the resolution Tuesday.

Reported two-month gap in Clinton emails coincides with escalating Libya violence

A reported two-month gap in emails from Hillary Clinton's private account during 2012 coincides with a period of escalating violence in Libya and the obtaining of a special exemption by her top aide, Huma Abedin, to work for both the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.
The Daily Beast reported late Tuesday that no emails between Clinton and her State Department staff for the months of May and June 2012 are among the estimated 2,000 messages that have been released from the Democratic presidential frontrunner's account.
A State Department spokesman told The Daily Beast that only emails related to the security of U.S. diplomats in Libya or the consulate in Benghazi were turned over to the House select committee investigating the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack. If true, that means neither Clinton nor her staff communicated via e-mail during a period that saw three attacks on international outposts in Benghazi, including one on the consulate itself.
That attack, on June 6, 2012, involved the detonation of an improvised explosive device outside of the consulate, prompting the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli to warn Americans about the "fluid security situation in Libya." Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed along with three others in the Sept. 11 attack, warned his superiors that "Islamic extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Libya."
Two weeks earlier, on May 22, the International Red Cross office was hit by rocket-propelled grenades. Five days after the consulate bombing, a convoy carrying Britain's ambassador to Libya was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, injuring two bodyguards.
The State Department plans to release Clinton's emails on a regular, monthly basis through January 2016 to comply with an order by a federal judge. The next release is tentatively scheduled for Friday. Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill released a statement saying "More emails are slated to be released by the State Department next week, and we hope that release is as inclusive as possible

More on this...

• State Dept turns over more documents to Benghazi committee

The Daily Beast reports that the Benghazi committee has only received one e-mail dating from the two-month period. The message in question was sent in June 2012 by longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and dealt mainly with his business interests in Libya. Security threats to the U.S. diplomatic presence were not mentioned.
Another issue raised by the e-mail gap is the status of Abedin, a longtime aide to Clinton and the wife of former New York congressman and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. The Daily Beast reports that on June 3, Abedin was granted "special government employee" status, allowing her to remain employed by the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, a consulting firm founded by a Clinton ally, and by Hillary herself. The "special government employee" designation prevented Abedin from being subject to some ethics rules.
On Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported that State Department lawyers identified 68 pages of "potentially responsive" documents in response to a 2013 Freedom of Information Act request by the Associated Press for details about how Abedin obtained her special employee status. That was the first time the department acknowledged having any documentation about Abedin's arrangement.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Republicans on the House Benghazi committee insisted there was no agreement with Clinton over her possible appearance before the panel, despite an announcement by her campaign that she would testify Oct. 22. Federal investigators said last week they have alerted the Justice Department to a potential compromise of classified information arising from Clinton's private email server.
A memo signed by the inspector general of the intelligence community said the IG's office had identified "potentially hundreds of classified emails" among the 30,000 that Clinton had provided to the State Department and that are now being processed for public release. None of the emails was marked as classified at the time they were sent or received, but some should have been handled as such and sent on a secure computer network, according to a letter to congressional oversight committees from I. Charles McCullough III, the inspector general for a collection of executive branch agencies that work on intelligence.

It Follows Cartoon

EXCLUSIVE: Cruz defends Huckabee, accuses Obama of 'gutter politics'

President Obama and Jeb Bush have drawn the ire of Sen. Ted Cruz after they attacked Gov. Mike Huckabee for his comments about the Iran
nuclear deal. 
Huckabee said the president’s Iran policy would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”
Click here to join Todd's Facebook page!
The president bristled at what he called a “ridiculous” comment.
“The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are just part of a general pattern we’ve seen that would be considered ridiculous if it weren’t so sad,” he said.
“We’ve had a sitting senator call John Kerry Pontius Pilate. We’ve had a sitting senator, who also happens to be running for president, suggest that I’m the leading state sponsor of terrorism. These are leaders in the Republican Party.”
Cruz rebuffed the president’s slap and said it was “particularly sad today that President Obama chose to engage in gutter politics – attacking Mike Huckabee by name, attacking me – both of us for standing up against this catastrophic deal – rather than defending the merits.”
Cruz told me he “emphatically” stands by Huckabee and his comments.
“Governor Huckabee has been a strong and powerful voice in defense of the Jewish people,” Cruz said. “He is exactly right to highlight the threat that the Obama nuclear deal poses to the nation of Israel. It is a sad day when the president of the United States cannot or will not see this truth.”
Bush, too, lashed out at Huckabee’s assessment of the Obama Administration’s deal with Iran – calling it “just wrong.”
“I think we need to tone down the rhetoric, for sure,” Bush said at a campaign stop in Florida. “The use of that kind of language is just wrong.”
“This is not the way we’re going to win elections and that’s not how we’re going to solve problems,” Bush added. “So it’s an unfortunate remark, I’m not quite sure why he felt compelled to say it.”
Cruz took exception to Bush’s attack on the former Arkansas governor.
“It is not a question of rhetoric,” he said. “It’s a question of speaking the truth.”
He told me that Republican candidates need to stop attacking other Republican candidates.
“Direct your fire to the real threats facing America –
including the threat of an Iran-led by radical theocratic zealots who chant ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’,” he said. 

Clinton, at energy event, won’t take position on Keystone pipeline

Hillary Clinton rebuffed a question Monday about her position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline even as she unveiled new energy proposals, opening the door to jeers from Republicans who accused her of "dodging." 
The Democratic presidential candidate for months has avoided taking a position on the Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, which remains under review at the State Department she once led. But given her entry into the White House race, and a new package of clean-energy ideas being put out by her campaign, Clinton was asked again Monday if she would at last weigh in.
Rather than stake out her stance, Clinton said only that she's "confident" the pipeline's impact on greenhouse gas emissions will be a "major factor" in the State Department's review.
"I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started," Clinton said. "And I think that we have to let it run its course."
She noted that decision would be made by her successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, and President Obama.
With many Republican candidates calling for the pipeline's approval -- and Clinton having faced criticism before for hedging on controversial issues that divide her own party, like this one -- her response Monday was fodder for Republicans.
"Clinton avoided specifics and refused to take a position on important job-creating energy projects like the Keystone Pipeline, reminding voters why they think she's untrustworthy," Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement.
Jeff Bechdel, spokesman with the conservative America Rising, accused her of "dodging on key issues like the Keystone XL pipeline, just to win an election."
As part of Clinton's energy plan, meanwhile, the Democratic presidential contender on Monday proposed that every home in the United States be powered by renewable sources by 2027.
Her plan calls for the installation of 500 million solar panels over four years.
"We're all going to have to do our part, but that's who we are as Americans. We don't hide from change; we harness it," Clinton said in a video outlining her proposals.
Clinton discussed her clean-energy ideas during a tour of a regional bus station in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday.

GOP lawmakers introduce bill to give union members say in political donations

Republican lawmakers took a first step Monday toward trying to fundamentally change the way unions operate, introducing legislation that would restrict how they spend campaign money -- and could keep cash away from Democratic candidates in 2016. 
Their complaint: Unions are taking advantage of dues-paying members and sending their money to Democratic candidates whether members like it or not.
The Employee Rights Act, introduced Monday by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah., and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., would allow union members to tell their bosses they don't want their share of dues going to certain candidates or causes, without fear of retaliation.
It also would seek to stop intimidation tactics by requiring secret ballots for employee elections regarding issues like unionizing or striking.
Any bid to restrict union political donations could have a big impact on Democrats, who get the lion's share of union campaign money. According to the Center for Union Facts, unions in 2012 contributed nearly $90 million to Democratic Party and aligned organizations.
"Forty percent of the union members are Republicans, yet virtually 100 percent of money that they've raised, and it's considerable money, goes to elect Democrats," Hatch told Fox News.
But now, some Democratic strategists are accusing Republicans of ignoring the needs of hardworking union members, and instead just trying to re-route sizable campaign contributions.
"Democrats have been supported for years by working people and the unions, and that's why Republicans want to bring this up," strategist Chuck Rocha said. "They want to take that money out -- the only real money left on the left side. There's a few big left donors, but we don't have a Sheldon Adelson."

Planned Parenthood ‘sponsors’ deny funding organization amid hidden camera controversy

Planned Parenthood once boasted a list of sponsors that read like a who's who of the Fortune 100, but now some of the biggest companies say they never gave money to the embattled organization.
Coca-Cola, Ford and Xerox are all among the companies listed in a roster of corporate sponsors claimed by Planned Parenthood, but representatives for the companies said they either never donated to the organization or had not in years. Planned Parenthood, which is now reeling from the release of two undercover videos in which top officials alluded to selling fetus parts, had published the company names on the website of its Washington, DC, chapter. The list was part of an appeal to employees who the site said could double their donations with the help of their employers.
“Double the size of your gift. Does your employer match charitable contributions? If so, please contact your Human Resources Department for more information about how your gift may be matched,” read a line from the web page. “A partial list of companies with Corporate Matching Gift Programs includes: AT&T, Alcoa, American Express, Avon Products, Black & Decker, Circuit City, Citibank, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fidelity Investments, Ford Motor Company, Gannett, James River Corporation, Merck & Company, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola, Phillip Morris, T. Rowe Price, Prudential Insurance, Safeco Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Sunoco, Vanguard Group, Verizon, Washington Post Company, White & Case.”

“When a non-profit gets into controversy, global brands have to revisit their relationship no matter how small.”
- John Tantillo, marketing and branding expert

The page was taken down after Coca-Cola, Xerox and Ford Motor Company demanded their names be removed.
Planned Parenthood's financing has come under scrutiny in the wake of the video sting, which was carried out by the Center for Medical Progress. In the videos, Planned Parenthood officials were recorded talking to people posing as medical researchers about providing aborted fetal organs for research. Critics say the videos show Planned Parenthood is illegally harvesting and selling organs, although the organization's president, Cecile Richards, claims the group has done nothing illegal and is being smeared.
News that the organization may have misrepresented sponsorships prompted fresh criticism from the Center for Medical Progress.
"[This is] more evidence that there is big money in Planned Parenthood's abortion business," said Executive Director David Daleiden.
Several companies said they should never have been included among Planned Parenthood donors.
“We have never been a donor to Planned Parenthood,” a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Company told FoxNews.com. “And we haven’t matched employee contributions since 2005.”
Officials for Coca-Cola and Xerox did not immediately return requests for comment, but both issued statements saying they were not donors.
While the list on the Washington chapter's website was taken down, another list of companies that match employee gifts appears on Planned Parenthood’s national website, and includes Allstate, AT&T, Kraft Foods and Nike.
Officials for Planned Parenthood did not return repeated requests for comment.
Branding experts say that many non-profit groups will embellish their corporate backing as a selling point for donations.
“Coca-Cola may have sponsored one event, but that does not mean that they are a corporate sponsor,” John Tantillo, a New York-based marketing and branding expert, told FoxNews.com. “What you often do is embellish to make a strong selling point.”
Corporations, for their part, take into careful account how their relationships with non-profits like Planned Parenthood might look to the consumer.
“Brands have to be careful not alienate their clients,” he said. “When a non-profit gets into controversy, global brands have to revisit their relationship no matter how small.”
Some companies have done the opposite and said that they have and continue to support Planned Parenthood.
According to statements to the Daily Signal, global brands like Clorox, Levi Strauss and Verizon said they proudly match employee contributions to the non-profit.
“As part of our annual giving campaign at Clorox, the company provides employees the opportunity to make contributions to nonprofit organizations of their choice, which are matched through The Clorox Company Foundation,” read a statement from Clorox. “While the foundation does not select these organizations, we recognize that Clorox employees choose to support many different causes they care about. For perspective, year-to-date, approximately $2,000 in foundation matching funds have been directed toward Planned Parenthood. Last year, The Clorox Company Foundation donated more than $4 million in total to many nonprofit organizations.”
Planned Parenthood’s donor list was not the only thing that was scrutinized last week. On Friday, another report surfaced on the Daily Caller that Deborah Nucatola, who appeared on the first video released by the Center for Medical Progress and appeared to be discussing the sale of fetal tissue, was earning a six-figure income as an outside contractor even while drawing a salary from Planned Parenthood.