Cummings Issues Statement on Stark Admission by Republican Oversight Chairman That He Has No Evidence Planned Parenthood Violated Any Law

Cummings Issues Statement on Stark Admission by Republican Oversight Chairman That He Has No Evidence Planned Parenthood Violated Any Law

Second Time in Two Days Senior Republicans Admit Truth About Baseless Investigations

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 1, 2015)—Last night, during an appearance on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform who is currently leading the investigation of Planned Parenthood, admitted that he has identified no evidence that Planned Parenthood has violated any laws:

Blitzer: "Is there any evidence in your opinion that Planned Parenthood has broken any law?"

Chaffetz: "No, I'm not suggesting that they broke the law."

Today, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Committee's Ranking Member, issued the following statement in response to this stunning new admission:

"If even Republicans now admit that there is no evidence that Planned Parenthood violated any laws, then what are three House committees investigating, and why in the world are Republicans insisting on creating yet another ‘select committee' at taxpayer expense? This is the second time in two days that senior Republicans have admitted what everyone else already knew. It's time for Republicans to stop squandering millions of dollars in taxpayer funds on what they now admit are naked political campaigns."

The admission from Chaffetz directly contradicts allegations from numerous Republicans—including House Speaker John Boehner—that Planned Parenthood engaged in the sale of fetal tissue for profit in violation of federal law. It also severely undermines any remaining Republican case for establishing a new "select committee" to investigate Planned Parenthood.

Chaffetz's admission follows a similarly stunning admission a day earlier by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who conceded during an interview on Fox that the core Republican goal in establishing the Benghazi Select Committee was always intended to damage Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign:

"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen."

Today, Cummings penned an op-ed in Politicowarning that "the top two goals for Republicans are to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign to become the nation's first woman president and to attack and defund Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides critical healthcare services to millions of women across the country."