Vice President Kamala Harris warned the Democratic National Convention in her acceptance speech on Thursday in Chicago, Illinois, that former President Donald Trump would “jail journalists” — after she did that in California.
Harris, as California Attorney General, investigated pro-life filmmaker David Daleiden after he produced a series of undercover videos in 2015 allegedly exposing Planned Parenthood trafficking in the fetal tissue of aborted babies.
As Politico noted in 2016:
On Tuesday evening, California investigators searched the home of David Daleiden, the man who released a series of videos last summer that showed Planned Parenthood employees discussing fees for fetal tissue and organs. The search came following an announcement from Harris last summer that she would investigate whether Daleiden broke any laws.
Later, Daleiden was charged by Harris’s successor, Xavier Becerra, in 2017. As Breitbart News noted:
The undercover citizen journalists were charged with 15 felony counts, 14 counts of illegal recording of confidential conversations and one count of conspiracy. The case makes them the first undercover journalists to be criminally prosecuted in the history of the state of California.
Planned Parenthood successfully sued Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress, for more than $2 million in damages, and the criminal case against Daleiden is still pending — for accurate undercover journalism.
Harris told her party on Thursday:
Consider what [Trump] intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists [sic] who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol.
His explicit intent to jail journalists [sic], political opponents [sic] and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens [sic].
Harris’s statement was full of other false claims. Trump has never made an “explicit” promise to set free violent offenders. He has said he intends to pardon those arrested on January 6 on a case-by-case basis; the implication is that he would pardon non-violent offenders, not those who attacked police.
Trump has never expressed “explicit intent” to jail journalists. He has discussed prosecuting political opponents who have committed crimes, not for political reasons. (Ironically, it is the Biden-Harris administration that is trying to imprison Trump on what many consider spurious charges.)
Trump never expressed “explicit intent” to deploy the military against “citizens,” though he did say he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act against rioters, which is legal, and which previous presidents have done.
Trump never did any of these things in four years in the White House — but Harris has.
Daleiden noted with irony on Thursday:
Lol, homegirl is so “unburdened by what has been” in 2016.
Let me remind you, @KamalaHarris:
As a citizen journalist, I had my home raided, work product seized at gunpoint, and spent an afternoon behind bars because of your fealty to @PPFA as CA Attorney General. ♂️ https://t.co/3nTdCKLdjg
— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) August 23, 2024
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.