The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a federal investigation into Planned Parenthood over their widely criticized practices and for selling fetal tissue.
DOJ Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd officially requested original documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct the investigation, according to a letter first obtained by Fox News.
“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 in the letter.
Key facts from Fox News’ report include:
- The FBI was first to formally request the unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- Top committee members Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) indicated they needed to receive a letter guaranteeing them the documents are for investigative purposes before they release them.
- The letter Fox News obtained is a “rare confirmation” by the DOJ of a federal investigation.
- Grassley “referred” Planned Parenthood and others to the FBI for investigation in the committee’s final report in 2016.
- The investigation comes in response to a 2015 undercover video by a pro-life activist that showed officials from Planned Parenthood and StemExpress talking about the sale of fetal tissue parts.
“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,” David Daleiden, leader of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress said Thursday. “It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.”
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