Pennsylvania attorney general charged in grand jury leak

He’s accused of secretly accessing information related to the grand jury investigation. Now Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, herself, faces charges, including perjury and abuse of office. She said Ms. Kane devised a scheme to leak material to a newspaper to discredit former prosecutors and make it appear that they “went soft” on a previous investigation.

She is also the second Pennsylvania attorney general charged in the last 20 years.

“She has said she believes the leak investigation was concocted by Republican men angry at her for shaking up the status quo in the attorney general”™s office.

“Today’s announcement is the latest in a long list of law enforcement actions against Pennsylvania’s local, state and national political leaders”.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review is reporting Kane is expected to be charged criminally as soon as Thursday.

Kane said she gave the media information but the 2014 memo she provided had nothing to do with 2009 secret grand jury information she is accused of leaking, said Lanny Davis, an attorney who represents Kane.

Stephan Miskin, a spokesman for Pennsylvania House Republicans, said by email that the charges against Kane “raise serious concerns regarding her ability to continue to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth”.

Gray said it was “extremely unfortunate and distressful that you would have someone in that position who would have these kinds of charges”. I look forward to the opportunity to present my case in a public courtroom and move beyond the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that has defined this process to this point. Far from being an admission of guilt, a resignation under these circumstances would indicate a recognition of the sanctity of our criminal justice system.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called for Kane to resign, saying the charges would interfere with her ability to perform her duties. She said that case remains under investigation.

The probe involved the financial dealings of J. Whyatt Mondesire, at the time the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP.

The charges against the state’s top prosecutor were filed at 11 a.m.in Montgomery County Thursday, though she did not turn herself in.

On the one hand, she successfully investigated state Turnpike officials on corruption charges, and she courageously refused to defend the state’s ban on gay marriage – a good decision, considering how the U.S. Supreme Court case played out.

Gleason said, in a statement regarding Kane’s criminal charges, that, if the allegations are true, they “have caused severe damage to the integrity of the Office of the Attorney General”. He also testified the memorandum was redacted so the only employees’ names in the paperwork were Fina and former state prosecutor Marc Costanzo.

The other charges brought by Ferman allege that Kane then lied under oath to a grand jury about knowledge of the 2009 documents and her involvement in leaking them to journalists, among other things, to help cover up the crime. Ferman stated he had looked for subpoenas and different delicate info involving the grand jury that was investigating his boss.