Other than Robert Mueller just about every American who follows the news has heard of Fusion GPS, the "strategic intelligence" firm best-known for its role in creating the infamous Steele Dossier in 2016.
Although eventually busted for that caper, Fusion still has not been called to account for its equally duplicitous role in saving Planned Parenthood's bacon a year earlier.
In the way of background, independent journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt created a sham biomedical research company called "Biomax Procurement Services" to investigate Planned Parenthood's trafficking of "fetal tissue," a euphemism for "baby parts."
Over a period lasting more than two years, the highly disciplined twosome worked their way into the good graces of Planned Parenthood clinicians in several states and captured on camera the chilling words and deeds of the practitioners in the nation's least-regulated major industry.
In July 2015, Daleiden started dropping the videos. The combination of callow words and cruel images, repeated in one video after another, rocked Washington.
The timing was good. The 2016 presidential campaigns were revving up, and many Republicans spoke out about what they saw. "The out-of-sight, out-of-mind mantra that propelled the pro-choice movement for decades is forever gone," Kellyanne Conway, then a Republican pollster, told the New York Times.
Reeling from the blow, even the Times had to wonder whether "the new offensive will succeed in crippling Planned Parenthood."
Barack Obama, the first president to speak at Planned Parenthood's national convention, kept his distance from the hubbub. An indifferent media got no closer to the president than his press secretary, Josh Earnest.
On July 30, 2015, a young reporter asked Earnest if Obama had seen the video that was released on that day. The video in question begins with interview footage of then Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards insisting, "It's not a fee. It's not a fee. It's just the cost of transmitting this material." The undercover footage that follows undercuts everything Richards said.
A doctor at a mega Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado is seen explaining the clinic's traffic in body parts. Aware that it is illegal to transfer "human fetal tissue" for "valuable consideration," the doctor plays semantic games with the would-be purchasers.
"We don't want to get called on, you know, selling fetal parts across states," she jokes, unaware she is being recorded. This interview is followed by an on-site review of actual body parts with the doctor and a clinician.
What is impressive is how well Daleiden and Merritt play their roles as buyers. What is unnerving is how casually the doctor and clinician pick through trays of baby parts – a heart, a brain, a lung – while talking about the commercial viability of the "fetal cadaver."
At the press conference, Earnest appeared to be bored by the whole subject. He did not know if Obama had seen the video in question or any of the videos and did not think it mattered.
Running for president at the time, Hillary Clinton could not afford to be so dismissive. Although her first instinct was to attack the video producers, Clinton herself began to waver as each new video dropped.
"I have seen pictures from [the videos] and obviously find them disturbing," Clinton told the New Hampshire Union Leader late that July. No one knew better than Clinton, however, what overwhelming force Planned Parenthood and its allies in the Democratic-media complex could bring to bear against a pair of citizen journalists.
For immediate assistance, Planned Parenthood hired the fixers at Fusion to review the unedited footage Daleiden had posted online.
Armed with a 10-page report from Fusion, Richards went on the offensive. Convincing people they did not see what they saw would not be easy, but the networks made the task possible by refusing to show the actual videos.
As to the newspapers and online journals, they welcomed Fusion's "forensic study" as heartily as they would its preposterous "Steele Dossier" a year later.
According to the Washington Post, Fusion's Glenn Simpson "enlisted experts who analyzed both the short, highly produced videos publicized by the antiabortion group, as well as hours of 'full' footage the group posted on YouTube."
This took no great effort or skill. Fusion GPS reviewed only the first four videos and supporting footage.
The Post could and should have done its own analysis, but by 2015, it did not much matter. The Post was as deep in the tank for Planned Parenthood as were the paid shills at Fusion GPS.
The Times headlined its story, "Planned Parenthood Videos Were Altered, Analysis Finds." Deep in the copy, Fusion admitted they "found no evidence that CMP inserted dialogue not spoken by Planned Parenthood staff," but the headline did the damage.
To complete the rout, prosecutorial friends of Planned Parenthood, both in Texas and California, brought utterly bogus criminal charges against Daleiden and Merritt. Mainstream journalists yawned, even cheered.
As the 2016 presidential campaign wound its way to its expected conclusion, Planned Parenthood Action felt confident enough to ridicule Daleiden and Merritt for their "fake, criminal videos."
Hillary Clinton felt comfortable enough with Planned Parenthood to make her first speech as presumptive nominee at one of its events.
Hillary was on a winning streak, at least until she wasn't. If she chose to believe Fusion GPS, millions of Americans preferred to believe their own eyes. And on Nov. 8, 2016, they made up their own minds.
@jackcashill's forthcoming book, "Unmasking Obama: The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency," is available for pre-order.
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