Ed Rendell: Kathleen Kane Deserves Her Day in Court
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, defended Attorney General Kathleen Kane against charges that she should resign after being charged with perjury for leaking grand jury testimony regarding the 'Porngate' case.
Rendell, talking with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said Kane, like anyone else, deserves her day in court.
"What should happen here is Kathleen Kane, her case should be tried. If she'd guilty, she should be convicted and then she'd have to, of course, by law, step down. But if she's acquitted, then she should go back to doing her job. We ought to try the case. Otherwise, they'll be charges and counter-charges and this and that and everyone will be pointing at each other. Right now, she appointed a special prosecutor...She has a right to defend herself in court and she believes that she hasn't done anything wrong. I've talked to her, and I don't know the facts of the case, but she's adamant in her belief that she's done nothing wrong. She's got the right to try to have that determined by a jury of her peers."
Regarding the appointment of the special prosecutor, Rendell also disagrees with critics of Kane who contend she does not even have the authority to appoint a special prosecutor.
"The question is, does Kathleen Kane, without a law license, does she have the power to appoint a special prosecutor? She says she does. There are others who say she doesn't. My guess is she probably does but it's really confusing and it's not good for the administration of justice...There have been charges that she's just doing this to get political revenge on her enemies and by appointing a special prosecutor, she takes that out of the discussion."
Rendell also took issue with film director Spike Lee, who in a recent interview, compared Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.
"I think we should bar anyone running for office from equating anybody with Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was one, perhaps the worst, villain in the history of the world. You can think a lot of negative things about Donald Trump but he certainly hasn't done anything coming close to what Adolf Hitler did. It's not constructive. You can say that Donald Trump is painting with broad brush, he's being unfair to American Muslims, and I would support that view. I think he is. But don't call him Hitler."