Make that nine charges against Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
According to the Associated Press, this new charge is related to the search of the AG’s office a few weeks ago.
“The new perjury count stems from her claim that she had never signed a secrecy oath preventing her from releasing information from past grand jury cases,” they write.
“Prosecutors say they recovered such a document from Kane’s office. They say she had signed it on her second day in office,” the AP continues. “She had claimed she cannot be held criminally culpable for any leak from old cases because she had not signed a secrecy oath.”
Detectives searched Kathleen Kane’s office on September 17th. It was soon revealed that they were indeed looking for the oath of secrecy.
In her testimony, Kane stated that she never signed such a document and was only accountable for grand juries she oversaw. The document applies the responsibility of every grand jury investigation since 1980, including the 2009 Mondesire case, to her.
“We don’t go back and sign [oaths for] every grand jury from the beginning of time,” Kane testified on Nov. 17th, 2014. “You can’t do that.”
On August 6th, the Attorney General was charged with eight other counts related to her leak of grand jury information.
UPDATE: Laura McCrystal of the Inquirer has a copy of the document:
AG Kane charged again. She said she never signed secrecy oath. DA says she did, and here it is http://t.co/K2JzUWJuy2 pic.twitter.com/4CwdDEaTK1
— Laura McCrystal (@LMcCrystal) October 1, 2015
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60 Responses
@ DD:
You persist in rationalizing-away the new felony/perjury charge [“There is no evidence that this was the only document notarized. It was far more likely part of a large batch of documents signed at the same time.”] invoking “context” rather than facing reality, even after you were reminded that the notarization process this type of document would have to have been isolated [via the presence of a notary, absent any evidence the notary was absent].
Let’s see if Metcalfe now triggers Wolf, yielding “game over” as per recognition that “the constitution also includes a section stating that the attorney general could be removed for reasonable cause in a process that would start with Wolf, who, on Thursday, called for Kane to ‘step down’.”
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/08/kathleen_kane_criminal_charges.html
The drip-drip-drip phenomenon infests both AG-Kane [plus her national mirror, Hillary and her defenders [such as yourself], notwithstanding the latest revelation about Eakin that no reasonable person can tether to her retroactive misportrayal of personal truth.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20151002_Kane_says_Justice_Eakin_exchanged_porn_emails_on_state_servers.html
For all those who share the view that she can’t have lied if she had contemporaneously felt she wasn’t lying, one can again point to the Dems’ [oxymoronic] condemnation of Scooter Libby AND to the ability AG-Kane to have said, “I don’t remember signing this document, but I’ll perform a due-diligence search to ensure any such statement hadn’t been among a stack that I had signed [with a notary present] and then get back to you immediately.”
We The People-
You are pretty much spot-on, except for the part about Trump. He is one of those creeps in power, who has used his money and influence to get ahead at the expense of everyone else.
He talks about how corrupt politicians are, because he’s bought so many of them. Then he says he’ll “solve that” by being self-funded and not having to answer to donors. The problem with that is that he’s exactly the kind of selfish donor we wouldn’t want to “win” the donor competition and be in charge. It would be like having one of the Koch brothers as president.
Kathy Kane is Now a Folk Hero She is The Karen Silkwood of Pennsylvania . Kane is exposing just How Creepy and Disgusting these guys In Law Enforcement and The Judiciary are in Pennsylvania . I Hope Kane stays alive to expose every one of these creeps cause she is stepping on Huge Toes and Former Chief Justce Whats The Deal Castille should have gone to Jail over The Family Court Fiasco . Maybe its not to late to see Castile in Jail . This is why TRUMP is doing so well People are Disgusted with these Creeps who are in Power .
@KaneTruth – You are clearly right as noted by the recent philly.com article outing Eakin.
First, Eakin along with the others shouldnt have sent the emails. The people who are solely recipients need to be left out of this.
Second, the problem with Kane’s approach is that she is using this as her PR defense. The amount of people who have worked on investigative matters in government and found side stories while reviewing emails has to be so large that its almost commonplace. Theres always a side store when you have someones emails. But it is not her job to public tear these people apart when you are faced with your own short comings.
While i’m not dismissing the fact that these emails are concerning. They truly have nothing to do with her issues and she should be handling this side story differently and behind the scenes. AKA letting the proper agencies and boards handle it. NOT the public bashing.
SpongeBob-
My point is that is unreasonable to assume that she would remember signing this particular document.
It is fairly likely that she barely read it, or read it very quickly as it was handed to her in a stack.
There is ZERO chance that she was handed the document, and said: “Gee, this seems really important. Let me take it home overnight and sleep on it, and we’ll have a team meeting in the morning to discuss it.”
Do you think that Fina remembers every porn and racist email he sent?
Does Kane get another PH on the new charge? I sure hope so … just to see what she will wear.
When she comes out of this trial with an acquittal, she will be an even bigger star.
I bet Fina wishes he hadn’t messed with Kathleen Kane.
I just read the latest installment of this case at Philly.com, the follow-up to Kane’s appearance in Montgomery County today. I guess I’ve been napping, but I did not realize that the Democratic DA candidate Kevin Steele is also, according to the Inquirer, “leading the team prosecuting the case.”
Unbelievable. I did not think there was anything on heaven or earth that could get me to consider voting for Bruce Castor, but this may be it.
Tomorrow game starts… Supreme Court judge emails…then Sandusky grand jury…then fina videos…then montco/phl gov emails…u guys need to pay attention…when KGK speaks she is telegraphing what is next.
Kathy , I meant release every Porn and Racial E Mail ever in your Office
NOTE TO KATHY KANE : Kathy Release the hounds Release every Pron and Racially insensitive E Mail that is anywhere near you office . Bring out all the Dirt on every elected Official . While you are at it Release everything from every Grady Jury From The First One To The Last one and release any info ever in The AG office on any elected Official or Candidate for Public Office . Let it all into the Light of Day and Let the People Decide . This is your Hour to shine dont hold anything back Let it all Hang Out . Thank you i Advance from ,We The People
Seriously I question whether any of you truly have original thoughts other than Repubs bad and Dems good. For the love of all that is holy claiming stupidity and not reading something is NOT a defense. You cannot claim ignorance as a defense. And can you people honestly say you are fine with an attorney general who does not know what legal documents are? Every time I can’t think less of some people on here you find a way to sink even lower.
Q: Ms. Kane, did you sign this secrecy oath?
A: That sure looks like my signature, but I have absolutely no independent recollection of signing it. Even seeing it now does not jog my memory in the slightest.
When I started this job I was handed many routine documents to sign, and this one appears quite unexceptional. I doubt I even read it beyond a quick skim. If my staff had decided to prank me by handing me a fresh copy to sign each day, to see how long it would take me to notice, you’d probably have a dozen copies.
KSDF-
My point was that the notary seal was NOT on the document when she signed it (countering your statement about the document having a stamp/seal when she had it).
This is likely an assembly line of Kane having a pile of documents, and the notary in the room and notarizing the pile in bulk.
Nothing significant here.
Stop acting like she took a selfie with the notary and this document and made it her Facebook profile picture.
rsklaroff-
There is no evidence that this was the only document notarized. It was far more likely part of a large batch of documents signed at the same time.
SpongeBob
You just made Kane’s case if you were a jury member, since you don’t believe she read the top. Therefore, she couldn’t remember what the prosecutor was referring to.
Calling them “porn emails” is a wonderful fabulous misdirection to try and take everyone’s mind of that fact that the e-mails contained stuff like this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zadock1/3580634808
Nice try, though, ShillPants
gulag, Her actions make her literally too stupid to do the job. And I am not making her case. As I feel very confident that she in fact knew exactly what she was doing and that there is in fact proof of that. The use of porn emails is a wonderful fabulous misdirection to try and take everyone’s mind of that fact that she knowingly and intentionally broke the law. No prom email forced her to do that. Her own people whom SHE brought in as trusted advisors warned against it. Don’t worry Dave Peiffer will be there to explain it all to you soon enough…….
SpongeBob: How do you get to guilty if Kane is too dumb to read the document? You keep making her defense.
SpongeBob: Please understand the distinction. I am NOT defending the job that AG Kane did. I have no opinion, but am skeptical of her ability. As are many others, the focus is not on her competence but on the process of how she is being railroaded by pervs and entrenched politicians in the “legal” system.
While Kane might be over her head in this job, that does not make her a felon. If it did, half the “legal” system would be in jail (rather than just the occasional judge). What I think is concerning is the rampant corruption and incompetence within the very system that is attacking Kane with criminal charges because she is exposing them for porn emails and unethical behavior that far exceeds her own (if the charges are even true).
Please let Kane stay long enough to expose this rotten system to the fullest. Any politician can be dirty if enough resources are used to dig deep enough. Criminal charges are obstructing Kane in the mission the voters wanted done. If the voters do not want her at the next election, so be it. But protecting the perverts and crooks by this political prosecution is NOT what is in the best interests of clean govt. Yes, she might flounder around a bit, but even a blind pig thrashes the ground enough to uncover some acorns.
OK, gulag, you must have never ever ever worked in the legal space. There is no way she did not know she signed it. I am telling you she more likely was not smart enough to have read the top part which identifies that it covers old grand juries. Either way pleading dumb still gets you convicted.
SpongeBob, AG Kane should call you as a defense witness. “She had no clue what she was saying…” But yet you would convict? Doubtful, as you just made her point.
The issue is NOT really whether she signed the document, but that is a necessary element to be proved. The crucial issue is IF she remembered signing it when asked about it much later when under stress in a grand jury probe. Stress does funny things to a person’s memory. Do not be surprised if a psychologist testifies to that.
Are people here actually arguing about whether or not a Lawyer…..A LAWYER understands signing a notarized document about the Grand Jury? If her defense is I don’t remember she still deserves to be shown the door. You are the states top law enforcement official. It’s a pretty damn important document and it is not, NOT NOT NOT handed over with a stack of other crap to sign people. She screwed up by not knowing what she signed, no that she did not sign it. She knew that if she left open any doubt that she signed it they would have requested a definite answer to which she would not have been able to reply which would have made her look foolish. Stop defending this person who it seems is not fit to chase ambulances let alone be the AG.
Gulag, you seem to be grasping at straws. There’s no conspiracy. Kane is really just guilty as hell. You’ll adjust to this reality in time.
Is the Notary, Wanda Scheib, any relation to Judge Ray Scheib (a Republican) from Allegheny County?
Was the Notary a holdover from the Corbett staff or a new hire?
Remember the Orie case? They were Republican, too. Has anybody tested the authenticity of this Pledge? Sometimes documents do get altered. That’s not unheard of in PA.
KSDF: Are you an attorney?
Yes, PA law requires a notary to simultaneously witness and notarize the signature. That is another possible Kane defense, unless the said Notary Public will testify that she has specific, explicit memory of actually witnessing Kane sign this actual document and declare that she was fully cognizant of its content and would never forget. If the Notary did testify to all that, any intelligent juror would know she (the notary) was lying.
It is much more likely in the real world that Kane signed a stack of papers while doing something else, then a secretary took the stack to a Notary to stamp. Of course, this violates the Notary law, which is motivation for the Notary to lie and testify falsely as I suggest above.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the Notary tells the truth at trial that she did not witness the signature? Then this charge would be tossed, because the document was not a valid notarized document.
Being the ruthless pervs that they are, those directing the Kane witch hunt would then likely turn on the Notary and indict her for violating the Notary Law.
With a fair judge and an intelligent, impartial jury, the defense of “I didn’t lie because I don’t remember signing it” is not that weak. After all, the burden is on the prosecution. Unless Kane also signed an affidavit declaring she knew she signed it and would just lie about it later, the prosecution has a tough job to show she knew when she says she did not. I too wondered how many useless forms were put in a stack for her to sign, so she could be telling the truth that she had no knowledge of it. All a defense lawyer has to do is ask the jury to remember the last time they bought a car or closed on a house and try to remember what they signed or if they read it. Lastly, Kane never said specifically that she never signed such a pledge going back to 1980 (unless these journalists are omitting the crucial info). What Kane said was that she never signed a pledge going back to the beginning of time. So far, no such document has been uncovered.
The entertainment-value of this comment-string notwithstanding, a few observations are in-order.
DD improperly claimed the document was potentially among those in a stack; KSDF properly quoted what we all know to be true, namely, that THIS document differed from others because of the need for it to have been simultaneously notarized.
Ha3 improperly claimed that AG-Kane’s attackers have not yet achieved fruition; as a “charter” critic, and recognizing the need for adherence to “due process” that her defenders constantly trumpet, it should be noted that the drip-drip-drip torture she is receiving [not dissimilar to that which is besetting her fellow-Dem, Hillary] is allowing her plenty of time to contemplate her fate [as she “twists slowly in the wind,” recalling the infamous line from Watergate].
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/watergate-era-fbi-chief-l-patrick-gray-iii-dies-at-88/2012/05/31/gJQA9fX2FV_story.html
Of course, the Inquierer got ahold of this evidence. They have been spoonfed everything else against AG Kane. So when does the grand jury convene to investigate how that was?
Who would ask her to sign such a crazy document and WHY? There must be some good stuff hidden in those earlier grand juries.
Also, WHY would she sign it? I doubt there any law or rule that requires her to sign. It’s not like the election would be invalidated if she refused.
Did every other elected AG sign such a pledge? If not, why her? Whose idea was it?
It is absolutely true that it’s not perjury if you said you didn’t sign something that you didn’t recall signing. So, that undoubtedly is the defense on this matter.
It’s also believable, since in the first few days in office, I’m sure she signed hundreds of documents. It would have been much better, obviously, for her to say that she didn’t recall signing it, not that she didn’t sign it….but this is why attorneys (and politicians) usually make terrible witnesses–they don’t like to admit that there are things that they don’t know.
However, it should be said that attorneys are usually held to a higher standard on this sort of thing by judges and juries than non-attorneys are.
DD, The notary has to witness her signing it. That’s the whole point of notarization. See also 57 P.S. § 158.1(a). That’s why it says “Sworn to and Subscribed Before Me”.
Please stop pretending to be an attorney.
She’s done …. I’ts over …. Soon, soon, soon soon …She’s done …. I’ts over …. Soon, soon, soon soon She’s done …. I’ts over …. Soon, soon, soon soon She’s done …. I’ts over …. Soon, soon, soon soon … She’s done …. I’ts over …. Soon, soon, soon soon …
That nonsense is what the shills have been saying for the better part of a year now. I couldn’t care less how much longer Kane is the Attorney General. I do care about due process, though. I do care about rogue prosecutors with racist/sexist/homophobic beliefs who are chummy with Judges (sending them porn and racist materials). I do care about illegal leaks too … but not just one leak of an old memo pertaining to Fina from an old grand jury … but all the leaks … including the leaks about the Sandusky case … the Kane investigation … the steaming pile of dung (sting) case … all the cases with which Fina was involved … What a coincidence .. LOL …
I just hope Kane stays around long enough to force a trial and force Fina onto the witness stand. POPCORN will be ready!!
Reading the DN article today – it seems the Bud Dwyer comparisons should be about him (rather than the ones the Repervlicans have been making re: Kane)… Hide the handguns at the DA’s Office!!
Speaking of the DA’s Office, wait til Seth Williams gets a load of the next batch of e-mails. Hopefully, this batch includes some of Fina’s favorite videos … like the one depicting a woman having “sex” with a snake.
HaHaHa,
while your reply was funny you ignore that I don’t care about Fina. I hope he gets crushed like a bug in this too. That being said you can’t lie to a grand jury, you can’t use your office to settle scores, and you cannot, cannot, cannot have an Attorney General who comports herself the way Kane does. This isn’t about Porn, this is about acting and performing her job. If she put in the same effort on the job as she has to trying to take down Fina she would be doing fine. So if it makes you feel better to keep calling me names or whatever the hell you do keep at it but these are truths: She will no longer be the Attorney General soon and she has no one to blame but herself.
Are you ready, Pervs?
Aye-aye captain.
I can’t hear you…
Aye-aye captain!
Oh! Who lives in a box where Fina leaks are OK?
SpongeBob SquareShill!
Stupid and yellow and porous is he!
SpongeBob SquareShill!
If trumped-up nonsense is something you wish…
SpongeBob SquareShill!
Then drop on his knees or flop like a fish!
SpongeBob SquareShill!
Ready?
SpongeBob SquareShill! SpongeBob SquareShills! SpongeBob SquareShill!
SpongeBob… SquareShill! Hahaha! ha ha ha!
For anyone who thinks an Attorney does not know what a secrecy oath is as it relates to a Grand Jury, it shows how little you know. Sure I will just sign this memo allowing me to order toilet paper and next its my Secrecy oath and then the work order to change the carpet….yeah sure that’s how it goes. Admit it, as she has throughout her short and soon to be ended career as AG she spoke and had no clue what she was saying. Also there are not hundreds of forms there are around 20. If you don’t believe me submit a right to know request and find out.
PA Dem – it’s the top of the form that matters most. There it says “First through the Thirty Second.”
I do agree that it is not really perjury to say you didn’t sign something you don’t remember signing. And, let’s face it, if Kane DID remember signing it, it would not have been in her Office (a place the detectives/agents) had been many times.
I tend to side with Diano’s interpretation, but as others have stated, it might not fly in court because this is a notarized form.
However, the tense of said form seems faulty to me — it is all forward-looking, even though it refers to events in the past. I can easily buy into a misunderstanding based on the content that it applied only to information from the time of signing and later. I don’t think it would be too hard to make the case that the form was not sufficiently clear in its intention.
Diano, this is why you’re not a lawyer. A prosecutor sees “secrecy oath” and has bells and whistles going off in her ears.
KSDF-
She signed it, and it was handed off to the notary (probably in a stack). The notary seal wasn’t on it BEFORE she signed it. Duh.
You can’t say bad things about Kane because she is a woman. Only David Diano understands this.
David Diano, the stamp is a notary seal. Get a clue.
Multi-tasker-
Actually, it looks more like a routine office memo, rather than an official looking document with state seal and such. It looks less official than memos my boss uses to remind people not to eat lunch at their desks.
Nothing “memorable” about it.
Diano, yes, because a freaking SECRECY OATH is the same as the HR forms for benefits and payroll. You are so clueless.
Pat and Multi-Tasker-
That date is when she first took office and was signing dozens or hundreds of routine documents. The idea that she would remember signing that particular document is ludicrous.
Here’s how this goes at trial:
Q: You testified that you didn’t sign a secrecy oath.
A: Yes. My memory is imperfect. I completely forgot about it among the hundreds of documents I signed my first few weeks in office.
Who leaked information to the Patriot News about Jerry Sandusky’s Grand Jury Investigation? Maybe his attorney will find out.
Mr. Daino – Thet seems like a weak defense. I am no fan of perjury traps – where you pick apart the GJ testimony on minor issues and then levy new charges. It is exactly what Kenneth Starr did to Bill Clinton. It did not work then and it will not work now.
Fina and his buddies are still getting “protected” and that needs to change. My guess is there will be a public outcry once Kane releases some of the videos Fina was watching and sending around to his white male friends.
Diano, that line of crap is completely out the window. You keep saying “um, maybe she didn’t remember!” She emphatically denied signing a secrecy oath, stating very clearly that she knew she did not sign one. Woops! There’s the signature!
Seriously, Diano, if Corbett were the one being accused, you would be creaming your shorts over this pile of evidence.
Observer – what makes you think Seth Williams is going to be indicted?
The leaks to the INKY need to be investigated immediately. Failure to do so would send all the wrong signals … and jeopardize the prosecution of Kane. After all, why should Kane be convicted of one questionable leak when her political enemies have been illegally leaking an absurd amount of “confidential” material?
There ARE reasons this doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. It’s because selective prosecution is a form of corruption. Kane will AlWAYS have the “victim card” to play as long as the creep racist pervs are not also investigated/prosecuted.
Still gotta prove knowledge and intent. How many forms did the porn team put in front of her in her first few days? And then keep hidden from her?
And of course, we have yet another Leak to the Inky… trying to get their paid man Seth into the office. A little late for Seth, in view of upcoming Fed indictments…
It’s not perjury if she doesn’t remember signing it.
H3, please cite the Crimes Code section that applies to sending lewd or racist emails. Thanks.
The D.A.’s Office finally have something they can win !!!
LOL … This just shows you how dumb Kane is … Leaving that in your Office when you know you denied signing it.
When is the Grand Jury getting sworn in to investigate the network of white men in law enforcement and on the Bench who used their State-issued equipment to exchange racist, sexist, homophobic material?
When is the Grand Jury getting sworn in to investigate the leaking of tons of confidential material from the “secret” Kane probe to Craig and Angela at the INKY?