The right wing media and blogs have now picked up the false story launched by The Federalist yesterday. I’m seeing a whole lot of Twitter posts by conservatives ranting about Harris Country prosecutor Lauren Reeder, who is a board member of Planned Parenthood in Texas, implying that she had some kind of nefarious secret role in getting the grand jury to indict Center for Medical Progress head David Daleiden (photo above) and his accomplice Sandra Merritt on felony charges. Because she’s connected with Planned Parenthood and therefore evil.

The truth about this claim: it’s completely false. Assistant district attorney Lauren Reeder recused herself at the very beginning of this investigation, and played absolutely no part in either the investigation or the grand jury proceedings. And this was announced publicly, just days after the investigation was launched.

Here’s an article at the Houston Chronicle dated August 7, 2015, making this extremely clear: DA addresses prosecutor’s role on Planned Parenthood board - Houston Chronicle.

Days after Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson announced that she was launching a criminal investigation into the Houston-area branch of Planned Parenthood, Anderson said she had learned one of her subordinates was on the board of directors of the agency.

In a statement released Friday, Anderson said one of her assistant district attorneys disclosed that she is member of the Gulf Coast agency’s board of directors.

“She made the disclosure in order to be transparent,” Anderson said in the release.

She added that she remained confident her office could conduct an “unbiased, fact driven investigation” of the allegations.

“She will not be involved in any manner in this investigation,” Anderson said. “If at any time in the future, reliable and credible information is brought to my attention that would question our ability to continue to perform a fair, thorough and independent investigation of this matter due to her board membership, I will revisit the issue of seeking the appointment of an independent prosecutor and act accordingly.”

So when you see conservatives trying to spread the lie that a Planned Parenthood board member influenced the grand jury to indict Daleiden, here’s a weapon with which you can fight back against this bogus talking point.