Sen. Claire McCaskill is under fire from pro-life groups after a campaign staffer was caught on video describing how Planned Parenthood sends money to her secretly so she will not look as pro-abortion to Missouri voters.
A pro-abortion Democrat, McCaskill is considered one of the most vulnerable senators running for re-election in November. After voting against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, she fell behind her opponent, pro-life Republican Josh Hawley, in the polls.
As LifeNews reported, the video, released by Project Veritas this week, shows how McCaskill’s campaign appears to be trying to appeal to moderate voters in the mid-western state by downplaying her radical pro-abortion stance.
“It’s f——- beautiful” how Planned Parenthood indirectly supports McCaskill’s campaign, one staffer tells an undercover investigator.
Now, a pro-life organization is demanding McCaskill come clean on funding her campaign has received from Planned Parenthood, or other abortion advocacy organizations.
CatholicVote.org President Brian Burch told LifeNews, “Hidden camera footage obtained by Project Veritas Action from inside Senator Claire McCaskill’s campaign clearly shows a staff member admitting that they secretly receive money from Planned Parenthood via third-party organizations. The same staffer admits this was done to shield the truth from voters who would react negatively to McCaskill receiving money from America’s largest abortion provider.”
“This kind of underhanded action would seem to violate the spirit, if not the letter of the law, on campaign finance reform — which Democrats have strenuously urged in an apparent effort to achieve a more transparent election process. But these videos suggest Planned Parenthood was using intermediaries to supply Claire McCaskill with contributions. If McCaskill is truly committed to transparency, she owes voters in Missouri the truth about how much the abortion industry has backed her campaign,” he said.
Burch added: “Senator McCaskill has voted in lockstep with Planned Parenthood’s agenda, earning a 100% rating from the abortion giant, while repeatedly voting to send hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year to the organization.”
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“McCaskill’s scandalous record on abortion is undeniable. But it now appears she schemed to cover up abortion industry cash, secretly funneled into her campaign, in an effort to conceal the truth from her fellow Catholics. We are calling on Senator McCaskill to come forward and tell the truth. Did her staffers lie on camera? Have any contributions, of any kind from abortion groups, been sent to her campaign via an intermediary? Catholic voters deserve to know the truth,” he concluded.
At another point, two staffers tell the undercover investigator why Planned Parenthood has not been a big supporter of McCaskill’s campaign, even though she has a 100-percent pro-abortion voting record.
“So what were you telling me last night about Planned Parenthood?” the undercover investigator asks.
“How they never — they don’t donate to Claire because they don’t want to ostracize pro-life Democrats in Missouri,” the staffer responds.
“They go through other means to support and give money. They just don’t directly give money from their PACs,” a second campaign staffer says of Planned Parenthood.
McCaskill responded to the video by calling for an investigation, according to KMBC News. Her campaign said it wants Hawley, the state attorney general and her opponent, to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate if Project Veritas violated state law.
The Daily Wire reports McCaskill’s campaign also pointed out that the abortion giant did give her campaign at least $5,000.
But it is a small amount compared to what Planned Parenthood is spending on other pro-abortion candidates. For example, it plans to spend $1.5 million to support pro-abortion Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s re-election.
Then there is Emily’s List, a pro-abortion PAC with less name recognition. It is McCaskill’s top donor in 2018, sending $630,745 to her campaign, according to Open Secrets.
Earlier this year, LifeNews and other conservative news outlets noticed that McCaskill’s name was not included in Planned Parenthood’s plans for the midterm elections.
The Washington Examiner wrote at the time:
Perhaps Planned Parenthood is keeping its distance to protect McCaskill …, whose voters may be less inclined to support lawmakers affiliated with the controversial organization. On the other hand, it could signal the group’s perception that both races are bad bets. …
Either McCaskill is a lost cause, or Planned Parenthood recognizes their help would only make it harder for the senator to convince voters she’s a centrist, despite her previous support for their work. Both possibilities should be cause for concern.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion chain in America, destroying more than 320,000 unborn babies’ lives every year. Though it receives hundreds of millions of tax dollars, it has become a major political spender, especially on high-level Democratic races across the country. In April, it announced plans to spend $30 million to support pro-abortion candidates in the midterms.
