The California Department of Justice special agent who testified Tuesday that Obama-era Attorney General Loretta Lynch wrote to former state Attorney General Kamala Harris to request an investigation into the Planned Parenthood video journalists changed his story, reported LifeSiteNews.
The pro-life media outlet reported that Special Agent Brian Cardwell changed his story Thursday regarding the letter that sparked the criminal investigation of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). The undercover journalists produced a series of videos exposing the fetal tissue trafficking practices of Planned Parenthood and its partners in the biomedical procurement industry.
LifeSiteNews reported on the preliminary hearing in the criminal case against the journalists:
Cardwell said in his first day of testimony on Tuesday in a San Francisco courtroom that the letter was from Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch to California Attorney General Kamala Harris asking for an investigation into the pro-life journalists from the Center for Medical Progress whose undercover sting operation exposed Planned Parenthood’s baby body part trafficking.
He referred to the letter when deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron asked him about the genesis of the investigation that led to Daleiden and Merritt being charged with 15 felony counts of illegal taping.
When Daleiden’s lawyer, Brent Ferreira, cross-examined Cardwell about the letter from Lynch to Harris, Cardwell said he saw it in January.
But on Thursday, Jauron asked Cardwell just before he left the stand about the “letter to Attorney General Harris” he mentioned on Tuesday.
Cardwell said the letter was from four congresspeople asking for an investigation into Daleiden and Merritt and it was sent to both Lynch and Harris.
LifeSiteNews suggested Cardwell could have referred to a letter that Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) sent to both Lynch and Harris, who now is a U.S. senator and 2020 presidential candidate.
In a tweet about Cardwell’s change of story, CMP reported the special agent said he misspoke about the letter:
Correction: In previous tweet, CMP indicated (based on Agent Cardwell’s testimony) that AG Lynch sent Kamala Harris a letter urging Harris to prosecute Daleiden, Merritt. Today, Cardwell stated he misspoke. The letter came from 4 Congressmembers and was sent to Lynch, Harris.
— CMP (@CtrMedProgress) September 12, 2019
According to the earlier report, Cardwell brought up Lynch’s letter when Jauron asked the agent about the initiation of the criminal proceedings against the two video journalists.
“I believe there was a letter sent by Loretta Lynch to Kamala Harris requesting an investigation,” he said.
Brentwood Ferreira, an attorney for Daleiden, cross-examined Cardwell about the letter because the video journalist’s lawyers had not received a copy of it from the attorney general.
Cardwell said he saw the letter in January when the attorney general’s office provided a copy for the record.
During cross-examination, Cardwell also told Ferreira that Beth Parker, primary attorney for Planned Parenthood in California, pressed Department of Justice agents to seize Daleiden’s documents and recording equipment.
Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, which is also representing Daleiden, said Cardwell’s change in testimony “doesn’t in any way diminish the fact that this is a political prosecution and everyone knows it,” reported LifeSiteNews.
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