The man who has made his name prosecuting lawmakers is now under investigation himself.
According to Chris Brennan of the Inquirer, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams is the subject of a federal probe into his campaign spending.
“There is a grand jury investigation underway,” a source told Brennan. “That is an established fact.”
“Subpoenas were served as recently as two weeks ago to Friends of Seth Williams, his political action committee,” Brennan wrote. “[His source] described the investigation as a joint effort of the FBI and IRS, with a grand jury impaneled at least two months ago.”
Williams’ PAC is being subpoenaed to see if any of its funds was misspent for personal uses.
This development could have a number of political consequences.
First of all, the DA’s profile was raised when he prosecuted several officials involved in the infamous sting operation that Attorney General Kathleen Kane passed on.
This fueled the Attorney General’s feud with the Philadelphia DA, which began after Williams added Kane’s chief enemy, Frank Fina, to his staff after Kane’s election.
The 42-page presentment detailed Kane’s feelings towards Fina and Williams.
“I will not allow them to discredit me or my office,” Kane wrote in an email. “This is war.”
In another message, the AG wrote that she would “make Seth pay.”
Seth Williams was also considering seeking higher office.
He was rumored to be thinking about a Senate run and is a top contender for the Attorney General contest next year.
UPDATE: The Friends of Seth Williams PAC released the following statement, accusing Kathleen Kane of leaking the story:
“Two weeks ago, the affidavit of probable cause issued by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office revealed that Attorney General Kathleen Kane vowed to go after District Attorney Seth Williams, explicitly ‘to make Seth pay.’ Attorney General Kane ordered political operatives to gather negative information regarding District Attorney Williams, and said ‘this is war.’”
“Today, on the eve of the preliminary hearing on the charges against her, an article was published by the same reporter to whom Kane provided secret grand jury information in an apparent effort to smear other prosecutors. The article relies on anonymous “sources” to raise allegations against District Attorney Williams related to his campaign finances.”
“District Attorney Williams denies these allegations. His campaign finance records are a matter of public record, and he will cooperate with any authorities who may wish to review them.”
Earlier today, Kane’s office denied any involvement.
“Neither the attorney general nor this office would have any way of knowing whether or not there is a federal investigation of the district attorney, and certainly had no role in exposing it to the media,” said the Attorney General’s spokesman Chuck Ardo.
Loading ...
62 Responses
Here’s a PPA quote from Mike Barley, Seth Williams’ new campaign manager/money guy:
“It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to work for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania under Chairman Gleason and I am both humbled and excited to continue working to elect qualified Republican candidates in my new role. I have inherited a great core staff of professionals and I know that together our team will execute Chairman Gleason’s vision to win elections and expand the reach of the Republican Party in our Commonwealth.”
He didn’t mention helping Democrats in Philadelphia!! Wonder why ….Hmmm
Oh wait … that quote is from BEFORE Seth Williams hired Mike Barley’s Corbett pals. You know – the ones that used their Government computers on racist, woman-hating e-mails. I guess Seth Williams got the FULL SUPPORT of the Republicans when he hired Fina & The Corbett Pervs.
He is going to need it too. Because he has no real friends in Philadelphia. Nobody likes or respects him. No Democrat is going to support him. In fact – it seems like Frank Fina and the Levant family are the only friends Seth Williams has left (beyond the Corbett Republicans running his PAC in Harrisburg).
He got his ass kicked in the ring on Saturday night. Won’t be long til it gets kicked at the ballot box … assuming he does not get indicted first.
Keep dancing, Seth. Keep dancing.
This guy has been an abject failure as D.A.
He is now so desperate that he is turning to Republicans for help:
http://articles.philly.com/2016-03-15/news/71513917_1_d-a-williams-new-pac-campaign
Kane is making as big a mess as possible, trying to drag down as many others as she can while her own career sinks. Seth is too smart to fool with his campaign funds. Sounds like another Kane political concoction, another waste of time, another fake-out meant to lead the hounds to anywhere but Kane. I’m no Democrat, but if PA must have a Dem AG, Seth would be the right guy. I’m sure he will come out of this fine.
So many of the prosecutors and judges are crooks and liars, just put them all in jail, then you know you got all the guilty ones.
kanesdriver !! ……….. oh, kanesdriver ………. come out, come out, wherever you are ………
Pat,
I was responding to Ha’s extra-judicial nonsense.
You are not suggesting that the convicts lied in court while admitting their crimes are you?
Pat, we’ll have to disagree that most Philadelphians would prefer to have the corrupt politicians back. Good grief.
AA – everyone knows that plea bargains occur. That’s just stating the obvious.
But there are reasons other AGs (ones not named Kane), the FBI, and the US Attprneys Office said “No Thanks” to the legislative sting case.
Of course TEA fans like “Unsanctioned” are fine with what occurred. But most reasonable people have serious questions about the administration of Justice in that case.
It will take a while … but everyone will see the truth when the remaining defendants hold the DA’s feet to the fire in Court.
Plea bargains (convictions) are not extra-judicial. Their’s is a common use in the judicial process.
I and the rest of Philadelphia aren’t crying any tears over disgracing and removing corrupt pols. At least they had to admit to their corruption, ruin their careers, be recorded as guilty of violating the public trust for the rest of history, embarrassing their families…
Williams is our hero. Kane the goat. And those facts burn you.
Seth Williams should have stayed away from Fina and the mess that follows him everywhere he goes.
The OAG, through some R leaders and Kane, made the same decision on the legislative sting case as the FBI and USAO made. Prosecutors are not supposed to bring charges they cannot win to achieve some extra-judicial result. The system is being mis-used by this crew. Good for everyone that it is finally being exposed.
Now – if Fina or others at the OAG shared porn emails with Judges they had cases with, that won’t be good for anyone. Convictions will be overturned and the State will have to bear the expense of re-trials.
Thank you Seth Williams for disagreeing with AG Kane that the stung legislators did not deserve any accountability.