White House spokesman Josh Earnest conceded on Thursday to "merely repeating" what Planned Parenthood has released in response to a series of videos of the organization’s executives discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue.
"I’m merely repeating what I’ve seen that they [Planned Parenthood] have said," Earnest said, catching himself mid-sentence.
Earnest accidentally confirmed Breitbart reporter Charlie Spiering’s assertion the White House was adopting Planned Parenthood’s talking points without reviewing the evidence.
Earnest said he suspected someone in the White House had watched the undercover Planned Parenthood footage, but said he is unsure if the president has seen any of the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, whom he referred to as "extremists on the right."
The White House spokesperson maintained, despite not seeing the videos, the tapes were "grossly distorted" and "selectively edited."
"Planned Parenthood and its political allies are using every means possible to try and silence us and suppress investigative journalism but none of these bullying tactics change the facts our undercover investigation continues to prove -- that Planned Parenthood illegally harvests, traffics and sells aborted baby body parts for profit," David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress said in a statement.
"The four video reports we have released so far are undeniable to anyone who watches them and they prove that Planned Parenthood is engaged in a gruesome and inhuman enterprise. One would think the reaction would be to stop forcing hard working Americans to pay for this enterprise --isn't there a better way to spend the American people's money than to give half a billion a year to an organization engaged in selling aborted baby body parts? The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work and will contest all attempts from Planned Parenthood and their allies to silence our First Amendment rights."
UPDATE: July 31, 11:07 A.M: This post was updated to include remarks from David Daleiden.