White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest parroted the talking points issued by Planned Parenthood this morning, dismissing the explosive investigative videos as the result of “extremists on the right.”
Earnest described the investigation as a “tried and true tactic of extremists on the right to edit video and distort” echoing the Washington Post op-ed published under the name of Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Earnest asserted during the White House Press Briefing that Planned Parenthood was following the “highest ethical standards” describing the investigative videos as “essentially fraudulent.”
“[B]ased on the essentially fraudulent way in which these videos have been released, there’s not a lot of evidence right now that Planned Parenthood hasn’t lived up to those standards,” he said, when asked about the fourth video released today.
When asked if the president had seen the fourth investigative video released by the Center for Medical Progress this morning, Earnest said that he didn’t know, but that he was confident that Obama was following the issue.
Earnest asserted that he hadn’t seen the videos, just as White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz indicated yesterday that he hadn’t seen them either.
After Breitbart News pressed Earnest whether anyone at the White House had watched the videos, he replied, “I suspect someone has.”
When asked if he was taking his talking points about the videos from Planned Parenthood, Earnest did not dispute that characterization.
“I’m merely repeating what I’ve seen what they’ve said and has been reported publicly about what they have said,” Earnest admitted, adding that he wouldn’t be surprised if representatives of Planned Parenthood had contacted the White House in the wake of the investigative report.
Earnest declined to issue an official veto threat from the podium to a potential congressional bill defunding Planned Parenthood, but indicated that Obama remained opposed to the idea.
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