Kathleen Kane: What They’re Saying
Well, that was something.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane meant to defend herself with Wednesday’s midday press conference, her first public appearance after being charged with crimes related to the leaking of secret grand jury material. It was a performance that managed to be short and rambling, controlled and chaotic, and it also provided some moments of inadvertent humor.
John L. Micek at PennLive called the presser “seriously weird“:
Already facing felony charges, the Scranton Democrat doubled-down Wednesday in a press conference that approached, and then sling-shot its way past, the utterly surreal.
With the statewide press corps assembled in a Capitol briefing room, Kane declared war on her enemies in a news conference in which she offered a multitude of allegations, scant evidence, an appeal to her children, and absolute silence in the wake of reporters’ shouted questions.
When he was asked why and how such a trainwreck of a press conference had wormed its way from whatever parallel universe these things are considered normal and into ours, Kane’s press secretary, Chuck Ardo, offered the most eloquent of all shrugs.
She completely ignored the June 2014 Daily News story on Jerry Mondesire that began the inquiry into whether she leaked grand jury information by providing information for that article. Her only mention of the March 2014 Inquirer piece that first drew her ire was to say it was meant to “embarrass and intimidate me” but did not succeed. Altogether it was a political, rather than a legal, defense and served as the latest chapter in her long-standing feud with prosecutor Frank Fina.
At the end, the AG directly addressed her two sons by name. She stated that it was the only way she could talk to them before the news reached them first. She told them that she would continue to do her job and fight “evil” throughout the state.
It was an emotional, strange and sad ending to an emotional, strange and sad performance.
Reaction came in on Twitter, as well:
I'm thinking Nicole Kidman in "To Die For" is the kind of vibe you'd want in "The Kathleen Kane Lifetime Movie" @kheller
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) August 12, 2015
I'm going to need a leave of absence to write the Kathleen Kane movie script for Lifetime
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) August 12, 2015
Guess who's earning his pay today? Chuck Ardo, #KathleenKane spokesperson.
— Jeff Jubelirer (@jeff_jubelirer) August 12, 2015
There was much mirth at Kane’s quoting a movie she called “Boondog Millionaire”:
Fun fact: if you try to look up the quote from "Boondog Millionaire" that #KathleenKane used in her statement, Google gives you Mean Girls
— Rachel McDevitt (@_rachelmcdevitt) August 12, 2015
I believe it was the Boondog Millionaires who recorded the U.K. smash "I Don't Like Mondays." https://t.co/WhvWy8pjpY
— Josh Gohlke (@JoshGohlke) August 12, 2015
Spoof Twitter account emerges poking fun at Kathleen Kane's apparent innacurate Boondog Millionaire reference pic.twitter.com/Rbua38AVaJ
— Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) August 12, 2015
https://twitter.com/Saksappeal/status/631524647574589440
(Kane apparently meant to reference “Boondock Saints.“)
Kane faces a preliminary hearing on August 24th. More to come in the meantime, almost certainly.
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