Court Slams Fetal Organ Sales

[INSIDE JW]

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR AUTOPSY OF CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER BRIAN
SICKNICK

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We’re not going to get the full truth of events at the Capitol on
January 6 from politicians or a dishonest media — no surprise there.
So were going after it on our own.

We filed a District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
lawsuit in the District of Columbia Superior Court against the
District of Columbia for the autopsy of Capitol Police Officer Brian
Sicknick and related records (_Judicial Watch v. District of
Columbia_
[[link removed]]
(Case
Number 2021 CA 000875 B)).

We sued after the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) of the
District of Columbia denied our February 16, 2021, FOIA request for:

All records, including but not limited to autopsy reports, toxicology
reports, notes, photographs, and OCME officials’ electronic
communications, related to the death on Jan. 6, 2021 of Capitol Police
Officer Brian Sicknick and its related investigation.

Initial reports from the New York Times and other media outlets about
the cause of Officer Sicknick’s death have subsequently
been corrected and revised
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The unusual and unlawful secrecy about Officer Sicknick’s death
investigation undermines public confidence in the fair administration
of justice.

We also recently filed lawsuits for U.S. Capitol Police emails and
video related to the riot
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and
for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s communications with the Pentagon
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in
the days after the January 6th incident.

It will be particularly interesting to see if any politicians such as
Nancy Pelosi or other outside officials communicated with the medical
examiner’s office about Officer Sicknick.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR NY, PA COVID NURSING HOMES POLICIES

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is under fire for his policies that may
have resulted in countless preventable nursing home Covid-19 deaths.
But other states, such as Pennsylvania, had similar policies that
needlessly increased risk for the nursing home residents. Again, not
trusting the corrupted media or government to give us the full picture
of this scandal, Judicial Watch went to court for answers.

We sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for
records about New York and Pennsylvania nursing home policies and
procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We filed the FOIA suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
failed to respond to a December 7, 2020, FOIA request (_Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health of Human Services_
[[link removed]]
(No.
1:21-cv-00612)) for:

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division
of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and Pennsylvania Secretary of
Health Dr. Rachel Levine regarding policies and procedures for nursing
facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is February
18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Quality
and Safety Oversight Group Director David Wrightand Pennsylvania
Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine regarding policies and
procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of
this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division
of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and Pennsylvania Deputy for
Quality Assurance Susan Coble regarding policies and procedures for
nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request is
February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Quality
and Safety Oversight Group Director David Wright and Pennsylvania
Deputy for Quality Assurance Susan Coble regarding policies and
procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of
this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Division
of Nursing Homes Director Evan Shulman and New York Department of
Health Commissioner Howard Zucker regarding policies and procedures
for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The timeframe of this request
is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

Communications, including emails and text messages, between Qualityand
Safety Oversight Group Director David Wright and New York Department
of Health Executive Deputy Commissioner Sally Dreslin regarding
policies and procedures for nursing facilities during COVID-19. The
timeframe of this request is February 18, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Brooklyn are investigating New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of
that state’s nursing homes during the pandemic. As of March 3, 2021,
15,430 nursing home and other long-term care residents in the state
have died from COVID-19, according to
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the New York
Long Term Care Community Coalition.

In February, Cuomo’s top aide reportedly admitted
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that
New York withheld information about the coronavirus death toll in the
state’s nursing homes out of fear that the true numbers would “be
used against us” by federal government.

In Pennsylvania, as of February 25, at least 12,000 of the
nearly 24,000 deaths
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attributed
to coronavirus in that state reportedly occurred in nursing homes and
long-term care facilities. Republicans in the state legislature have
renewed calls for an investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf’s
administration has dealt with these facilities, specifically the
state’s policy requiring that the facilities accept COVID-positive
patients.

According to a report
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by
Spotlight PA, coronavirus reports from the Pennsylvania Department of
Health were “consistently missing data” on nursing homes. The
state’s health department was headed during most of the pandemic by
Dr. Rachel Levine, who has been nominated for a top position in HHS,
believe it or not, in the Biden administration.

Thousands of nursing home residents in New York and Pennsylvania may
have died thanks to those states’ COVID-19 mandates. The public,
particularly those who lost loved ones due to the policies of the
Cuomo and Wolf administrations, have a right to know the full truth
about this public health scandal.

COURT SLAMS POTENTIALLY ILLICIT SALES OF PARTS OF ABORTED FETUSES

In May 2019 we sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documents about the purchase
and use of human fetal tissue obtained from abortion clinics that was
used by FDA researchers in “humanized mice” testing.

Then in February 2020 we uncovered records
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from
NIH showing that the agency paid thousands of dollars to
California-based Advanced Biosciences Resources (ABR) to purchase
organs from aborted human fetuses to create “humanized mice
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for HIV research.

In June 2020, we uncovered records
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from
the FDA showing that, between 2012 and 2018, the FDA entered into
eight contracts worth $96,370 with ABR to acquire “fresh and never
frozen” tissue from first and second trimester aborted fetuses for
use in creating “humanized mice” for ongoing research.

We can now report a positive development in this case, which, in many
ways, has been a journey into a heart of darkness. A federal
court ordered
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HHS
to release additional information about its purchases of organs
harvested from aborted human fetuses.

The Court also found “there is reason to question” whether the
transactions violate federal law barring the sale of fetal organs.
Documents previously uncovered in this lawsuit show that the federal
government demanded the purchased fetal organs be “fresh and never
frozen.”

Both the FDA and NIH purchased the organs from ABR to create
“humanized mice
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for use in HIV research. ABR partners with Planned Parenthood and
other abortion providers to dismember fetuses and sell their parts for
research. The decision
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notes
that ABR:

sold second-trimester livers and thymi for hundreds of dollars apiece.
The same for brains, eyes, and lungs. After tacking on fees for
services like shipping and cleaning, ABR could collect over $2,000 on
a single fetus it purchased from Planned Parenthood for $60. The
federal government participated in this potentially illicit trade for
years.

The court raised concern about whether these transactions are legal:

Happily for the Government (and ABR), this means that the Court need
not reach Judicial Watch’s argument that the Government cannot
withhold the information at issue because ABR engaged in criminal
conduct. Recall that it is illegal to transfer “any human fetal
tissue for valuable consideration. 42 U.S.C. § 289g-2(a). Judicial
Watch contends that the invoices disclosed here show that the
Government paid “valuable consideration” to ABR and so the
Government cannot keep the withheld information confidential.

The court found it “dubious” that a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) exception invoked by the government could be used to “shield
illegal business practices under the guise of ‘confidential business
information’” and declared that “[t]here is reason to question
the lawfulness of the transaction between the Government and ABR.”

In ruling in our favor, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N.
McFadden ordered
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HHS
to disclose:

Any currently withheld names and addresses of ABR’s contract
laboratories

Any redacted unit pricing information for fetal tissue, shipping, or
other fees and services relating to the 2013-2015 years that can found
in the fee schedules appended to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
report entitled “Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and
Controversy”

Any redacted per-specimen pricing information for the second-trimester
fetal tissue relative to the 2016-2018 years

We initially filed this lawsuit
[[link removed]]
after
HHS failed to respond adequately to a September 2018 FOIA request
(_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department Health and Human Services _
[[link removed].
1:19-cv-00876)). We asked for:

All contracts and related documentation between FDA and ABR for the
provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.


All records reflecting the disbursement of funds to ABR for the
provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research.


All guidelines and procedural documents provided to ABR by FDA
relating to the acquisition and extraction of human fetal tissue for
its provision to the FDA for humanized mice research.

All communications between FDA officials and employees and
representatives of ABR related to the provision by ABR to the FDA of
human fetal tissue for the purpose of humanized mice research.

This court victory will shed additional light on the federal
government’s barbaric practice of purchasing organs of aborted human
beings. The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are
being spent on this grotesque and potentially illegal activity.


U.S. LIFTS YEMENI MILITANT GROUP’S TERRORIST DESIGNATION

The Biden administration quickly undid a major Trump anti-terror
initiative in Yemen and is set to resume sending militants there with
millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Our _Corruption Chronicles _blog
reports
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the details.

Days after a “humanitarian situation” compelled the Biden
administration to revoke the terrorist designation of a Yemen-based
militant group, the U.S. is sending the Islamic nation $191 million
in assistance
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Yemen
is a hotbed of terrorism that serves as the headquarters of Al Qaeda
in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The international community strongly
opposed the Trump administration’s classification of another Yemeni
radical faction, Ansarallah, as a specially designated global
terrorist entity asserting that it would come with repercussions for
humanitarian operations
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In a Federal
Register bulletin
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announcing
the move the State Department writes that Ansarallah, also known as
Partisans of God, has committed or has attempted to commit, or poses a
significant risk of committing, or has participated in training to
commit, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals
or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United
States.

The Biden administration did not waste much time caving into the
demands of leftist global entities to reverse the designation. Leading
the pack was the famously corrupt United Nations, which joined forces
with independent humanitarian organizations to demand Ansarallah be
removed from the government’s terrorist list. UN officials
expressed “deep concern about the adverse humanitarian impact
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and the director
of a nonprofit called it a “death sentence.” In mid-February
Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken obliged, explaining that
the decision to revoke
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Ansarallah’s
terrorist designation is a recognition of the dire humanitarian
situation in Yemen. “We have listened to warnings from the United
Nations, humanitarian groups, and bipartisan members of Congress,
among others, that the designations could have a devastating impact on
Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel,”
according to State Department announcement
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“The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant U.S. policies
do not impede assistance to those already suffering what has been
called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. By focusing on
alleviating the humanitarian situation in Yemen, we hope the Yemeni
parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue.”

It is worth noting that shortly after Blinken’s decision the U.S.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned
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two key
militants of the Iranian-backed Ansarallah, which is sometimes
referred to as the Houthis. The agency identifies them as Mansur
Al-Sa’adi and Ahmad ‘Ali Ahsan al-Hamzi and claims they are
responsible for orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces impacting
Yemeni civilians, bordering nations, and commercial vessels in
international waters. “These actions, which were done to advance the
Iranian regime’s destabilizing agenda, have fueled the Yemeni
conflict, displacing more than one million people and pushing Yemen to
the brink of famine,” the OFAC writes in a press release
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The document
proceeds to explain that the Houthis have waged a bloody war against
the internationally recognized Yemeni government using ballistic
missiles, explosives, naval mines, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
to attack bases, population centers, infrastructure, and nearby
commercial shipping. “The Iranian regime has intensified this
conflict by providing direct financial and materiel assistance to the
Houthis, including small arms, missiles, explosives, and UAVs,”
according to the U.S. Treasury.

The conflicting actions of two American government agencies may seem
confusing to some, though Secretary of State Blinken does acknowledge
Ansarallah’s terrorist traits and that its leaders threaten
Yemen’s peace, security, and stability. In the announcement
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quashing
the terrorist designation, Blinken says this: “The United States
remains clear-eyed about Ansarallah’s malign actions, and
aggression, including taking control of large areas of Yemen by force,
attacking U.S. partners in the Gulf, kidnapping and torturing citizens
of the United States and many of our allies, diverting humanitarian
aid, brutally repressing Yemenis in areas they control, and the deadly
attack on December 30, 2020 in Aden against the cabinet of the
legitimate government of Yemen.”

The Secretary of State promises to “closely monitor” the terrorist
organization’s activities and actively identify additional targets
for designation, especially those responsible for explosive boat
attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and missile attacks
into Saudi Arabia. Blinken assures the U.S. is committed to helping
its partners defend themselves against threats arising from Yemen. In
the meantime, American taxpayer dollars keep pouring into the country.
The latest allotment of $191 million, announced this month, comes on
the heels of a $160 million allocation at the end of 2020 to
“alleviate the suffering of the people of Yemen.”

Until next week,





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