WATCH: McCaskill Staffer Admits Planned Parenthood Secretly Funnels Money to Her Campaign

Beth Baumann | October 21, 2018 9:40 AM

A campaign staffer for Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) was caught on camera admitting a rather disgusting tidbit: Planned Parenthood donates to the senator's campaign through a number of other organizations. The reason? So pro-life Democrats aren't ostracized.

"They [Planned Parenthood] go through other means to support and give money. They just don’t directly give money from their PACs,” a campaign staffer told a Project Veritas investigator.

McCaskill Staffer: “it’s f***ing beautiful” how Planned Parenthood indirectly contributes to McCaskill campaign so they don’t ostracize pro-life voters pic.twitter.com/FyOtDKrpjY
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 17, 2018

The McCaskill campaign is blaming her opponent, Attorney General Josh Hawley (R), for the Project Veritas video.

"It is startling that Josh Hawley would embrace fraudulently embedding somebody in my campaign," the campaign told KMBC-TV in a statement. "He is the Attorney General of Missouri. He's supposed to be going after fraud, not applauding it. I have been very upfront about all my positions."

In the past, the Washington Examiner noted that McCaskill has been excluded from Planned Parenthood's midterm election spending.

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.