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Attorney For Indiana Doctor Sends Cease And Desist To Indiana Attorney General - YouTube
Channel: MSNBC
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kathleen thank you so much for being
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with us um
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can you tell us the latest the status of
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any legal action against the attorney
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general who in your words has smeared
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the doctor
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yes thank you nicole for having me and
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for telling my clients story today we
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appreciate that very much
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unlike attorney general todd rokita
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who's both a politician and a lawyer we
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are going to do our homework
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gather the facts and research the law
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before we start leveling accusations and
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filing cases
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so the first step in that process we
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took just a few within the hour i
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believe we sent mr rokita a cease and
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desist letter demanding that he stop
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smearing my client and falsely accusing
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her of things that she hasn't done
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let me read some of that letter we have
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a copy of it it says please cease and
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desist from making false and misleading
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statements about alleged misconduct by
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dr bernard in her profession which
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constitute defamation per se moreover to
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the extent that any statement you make
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exceeds the general scope of your
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authority as indiana's attorney general
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such a statement forms the basis of an
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actionable defamation claim
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are you
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you said you're doing research we did
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some as well i mean if
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if
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the defamation case exists there i
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wonder if you are examining other people
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who have
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lied about what happened here
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we are going to do
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all the work that needs to be done
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before we make a decision about who to
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sue or on what legal theories it's a
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step-by-step process we're at the very
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first step now and our hope immediate
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hope with that letter that we sent today
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is that mr rokita will stop
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vilifying my client
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and stop trying to change the story away
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from what really happened here which is
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that a 10 year old child was raped and
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abused and had to travel across state
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lines to get medical care that she
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needed
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i know for privacy reasons and legal and
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ethical reasons you can't tell us
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anything about the child but can you
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tell us how dr bernard is doing is she
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shaken by this incident incident is she
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more resolved to continue to try to help
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can you can you tell us how she's
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holding up
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sure
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dr bernard is an amazing compassionate
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well-trained person who
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has seriously taken a lot of hits over
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the last few days and it's it's you know
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she's had to have security at her home
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and take other steps but at the same
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time we have been overwhelmed and
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gratified by
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the outpouring of support for her that
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we have received from
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all across the country and even around
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the world and in fact a group of ob gyn
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physicians from around the country
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banded together and launched a gofundme
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page for her today in order to show
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support and help her deal with the costs
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that are being incurred as a result of
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this campaign by the
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attorney general of indiana and others
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who have
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tried to gin up this story
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do you or she have any
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analysis or perspective on
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why
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this 10 year old's
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rape
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and the medical and family decision to
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abort a rapist
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pregnancy
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has touched such a nerve on the right
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why
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the facts of this had to be erased and
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distorted why this little girl this
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victim couldn't exist in post row
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america
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well i think that
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they want to pretend that this type of
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problem doesn't happen but it does
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happen all too often
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they would like to argue that
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people elect abortions
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for no good reason or
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you know they don't want to talk about
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the child who's 10 years old who isn't
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even old enough to babysit somebody
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else's children yet they want to force
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her to become a mother that is a tragedy
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upon a tragedy that is a consequence of
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the laws that are being passed now that
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roe versus wade has been overturned
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and in indiana where we are
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our governor has called a special
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session to begin on july 25th for the
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sole purpose of passing new abortion
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laws and
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we are very concerned about what they're
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going to do
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in that session and so mr rokita and
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others have tried to as you said in your
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intro pretend that this girl didn't
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exist
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accuse a doctor of making it up
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all because they want to change the
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narrative
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we have we also mentioned the reporting
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in the washington post and i've seen
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some of the local reporting can you just
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confirm for us what what has been
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reported that all the appropriate
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paperwork and documentation was filed by
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dr bernard
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yes i can confirm that through every
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step of the way in dealing with this
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patient just like in all of her other
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situations dealing with patients dr
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bernard called upon her medical and
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ethical training she did everything by
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the book according to policy procedure
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and in compliance with the law and she
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unequivocally reported this incident to
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the proper authorities within the time
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frame set forth by statute
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and if mr rokita
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had done his homework he would have
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known that before he went on fox news
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and falsely accused her of not making a
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report
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is dr bernard
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um
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does she have concerns i know her friend
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spoke out about um how very dangerous it
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is to be targeted by the right and the
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extreme right politicians in this
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country um is she does she feel safe
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does she have adequate protection in her
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view
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we're doing all that we can to ensure
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that she has adequate protection but in
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another point that we made in our letter
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to mr rokita this afternoon is that his
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words
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are inciting
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people
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and that is a very dangerous thing for
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him to be doing and it reminds me in in
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a different way of what happened
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at the insurrection in on january 6. you
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know mr rokita is out there throwing mud
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at my client in a very
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politically charged
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scene with this special session coming
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up in a couple of weeks and we're very
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concerned that he's being extremely
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irresponsible
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in his communication and could in fact
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prompt somebody to do something illegal
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and to do something horrible and we are
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definitely concerned about that
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yeah i mean the moment the climate is on
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my mind too i have examples of the
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things that have been said about her and
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i'm i'm reluctant to even play them even
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though they certainly further and
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strengthen um any defamation case but
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but the climate is certainly a fraught
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one with people feeling um very afraid
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and it's just very curious that lying
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about her paperwork that is filed and
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there for the eye to see was part of his
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his strategy kathleen i want to ask you
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to keep us posted and if dr bernard you
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know has anything to say she's always
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welcome here thank you for spending some
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time with us today
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thank you very much nicole my pleasure
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[Music]
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you
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