Kane Confirms Investigation Into Her Office
Kathleen Kane. AP | Bradley C. Bower
Attorney General Kathleen Kane testified before a grand jury on Monday, and publicly confirmed that her office is under investigation for a leak of grand jury information in a previous case.
As she prepared to testify before a grand jury investigating improper leaks to the media, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane acknowledged Monday that her office had released information but said it broke no laws.
“I will tell the special prosecutor the truth and the facts surrounding the disclosure of information to the public that was done in a way that did not violate statutory or case law regarding grand jury secrecy,” Kane said, reading a prepared statement.
Kane called her grand jury appearance “the worst-kept secret of Pennsylvania.”
In her statement, Ms. Kane recounted her office’s recent release of emails containing pornographic or explicit images, videos and jokes that had been discovered on state computers after being circulated by employees of the office in recent years. Some people involved in circulating the emails have resigned their government jobs, but Ms. Kane noted that “others remain on the public payrolls.”
She did not explain the link between the pornographic email case and the grand jury investigation.
“You can’t explain the connection between … the emails and this grand jury because there’s an order that [says] we’re not allowed to explain the connection,” said one of her attorneys, Lanny Davis, who was special White House counsel to former President Bill Clinton.
The Inquirer gives the background of the investigation, headed by special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio:
The Inquirer has reported that Carluccio is examining whether Kane’s office leaked grand jury information to the Philadelphia Daily News about a 2009 investigation, handled by her Republican predecessors, into the finances of former NAACP head J. Whyatt Mondesire.
The Mondesire inquiry was headed by Frank G. Fina, a former top prosecutor in the office who now works for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.
Kane, a Democrat who took office in January 2013, has been locked in an increasingly public and bitter battle with Fina over how cases were handled.
And the Patriot-News examines Kane’s newest advocate:
Kathleen Kane has hired Lanny Davis, former special counsel to Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial and Penn State during the Sandusky scandal, to help represent her as she faces multiple court orders.
Davis said his role is to advise (Gerald) Shargel, who serves as lead counsel, and to work with the media.
“I’m not a criminal defense attorney and I’m not in the lead,” he said, “but I am able to work with the media and translate the legalese into plain language.”
