In California, the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, filed a complaint against the Center for Medical Progress, a group of anti-abortion activists, accusing them of illegally recording their conversations with clinic operators without consent. For this, Becerra charged the organization with fifteen felonies, a response so disproportionate that even the Los Angeles Times couldn’t find precedent for it. Tellingly, Becerra did not charge NBC for secretly recording Donald Trump on what became the now-famous Access Hollywood tape.
