Summary: Convicted Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced today that she will resign.
Pennsylvania State Attorney General Kathleen Kane was supposed to enforce the law, not break it. But on Monday, she was found guilty of nine charges, including perjury and obstruction. Following the conviction, ABC reports that her resignation is effective on Wednesday.
Democrat Kane was elected in 2012. She was the first woman AG in the state.
Last August, Kane was charged with leaking sealed documents to the media and lying about the act under oath. She allegedly was angry that she had been publicly accused of dropping a political investigation, and she sought to retaliate against her rivals by smearing them in the press with confidential documents.
Kane faces potential jail time and possibly prison time. She is no longer allowed to practice law after being stripped of her license. According to CNN, her lawyers had said that they will continue litigation, while the prosecutors stated that justice had been served.
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“It seemed that we had somebody who felt that she was above the law and that’s not the case because no one is above the law,” prosecutor Kevin Steel said. “We are a very honorable profession here. We have rules that we have to abide by and there are no exceptions to that.”
Assistant District Attorney Michelle Henry said that “there were great men and women” who work in Kane’s office and that “they have had to suffer through what this defendant has done.”
Governor Tom Wolf also condemned Kane and had called for her to step down.
“As I have made clear, I do not believe Kathleen Kane should be Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I believed this when she was charged, and today, after conviction, there should be no question that she should resign immediately,” Wolf said.
After initially appearing to want to fight for her name to be cleared, Kane released a statement today that she would resign, effective Wednesday.
“I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days,” Kane said.
Voters will be able to elect a new AG in November. Kane’s term would have been over this January.
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Source: CNN, ABC