Democratic lawmakers are accusing a top Trump administration health official of once having secretly coordinated with the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group that released edited videos purporting to show that Planned Parenthood was trafficking fetal tissue.
The official, March Bell, is the chief of staff for the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to taking on this role, he was staff director and chief council for the Select Panel, a House panel that was investigating whether Planned Parenthood was involved in selling fetal tissue for profit, a practice that is illegal. Democratic representatives are accusing him of secretly coordinating with David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, while in that role.
"Mr. Bell’s reported statements and actions call into question his conduct, judgment, and ability to meet professional standards of impartiality and fairness," the Democrats wrote in a letter to Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services secretary.
They raised instances of statements Bell allegedly made at the Law of Life Summit, in which he stated that the panel relied on "lots of phone calls with David Daleiden" and also noted that he spoke with anti-abortion activists Troy Newman of Operation Rescue and Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics during the Select Panel’s investigation.
The Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Diana DeGette of Colorado, Jackie Speier of California, Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, and Suzan DelBene of Washington — asked that Bell be recused from any cases involving abortion services or the sale of fetal tissue that come before the Office of Civil Rights.
“It is clear that Mr. Bell is not an impartial investigator on those topics, and we do not believe he can be trusted to fairly adjudicate any related cases," they wrote.
Daleiden is under criminal indictment in California. Thirteen states that investigated Planned Parenthood cleared the organization of wrongdoing. Planned Parenthood has said the videos were heavily edited and misleading, but the Department of Justice under the Trump administration is reviewing documents lawmakers had assembled on the issue.
