Grand Jury Wants Pennsylvania's Attorney General Kane Charged With Perjury, 3 Other Counts
By Pat Loeb
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- A grand jury has recommended charges against Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane, but not the ones she was being investigated for.
That disclosure came, according to files released today, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a request to keep them sealed.
And now, Kane's spokesman is reacting with outrage.
The grand jury recommended charges against Kane -- including lying under oath and obstruction of justice. But the panel was investigating whether she leaked documents from a 2009 grand jury. They did not recommend charges about the leaks.
Kane's spokesman, Lanny Davis, says the charges are "camouflage" for the special prosecutor's "failure" to "obtain evidence that [she] illegally leaked documents."
And if the underlying charges aren't true, reasons Davis, why would Kane lie to the grand jury? He asserts that she's been "100 percent truthful."
The court documents released today show the grand jury concluded there are reasonable grounds to charge Kane with perjury, false swearing, official oppression, and obstruction.
The records made public today say the grand jury's December 18th presentment has been sent by the supervising judge to the district attorney in Montgomery County for any prosecution.
The records were released in connection with Kane's request to the state Supreme Court to remove special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio. Kane argues there was no legal basis for his appointment by Montgomery County judge William Carpenter.
In an unrelated public appearance today in Philadelphia, Kane maintained her innocence. The special prosecutor had found nothing illegal and instead had to "make things up," she said.
"We moved to unseal those documents because the people of Pennsylvania should know what's in there, they should know that we're fighting this and ... that unsealing shows that there was nothing done wrong," Kane told reporters. "That special prosecutor looking for leaks from my office in a grand jury didn't even find them."
The court filing identified the charges but did not include the full presentment, which typically lays out the basis for any charges.
Kane, a former prosecutor in Lackawanna County, took office in 2013 as the first woman and first Democrat elected as state attorney general. She has not been charged. Carluccio, a Montgomery County lawyer and former prosecutor, and Carpenter are Republicans.
She also said the courts are being used to overturn the election of somebody they don't like, and she insisted she would not back down.
"I'm in it for everybody and quite honestly, if they can do it to me, they'll do it to somebody else, and that is unacceptable in my book," Kane said.