The state’s embattled attorney general says her office may reconsider its refusal to release the same pornographic e-mails she says are at the root of criminal charges against her.
In a written statement released Tuesday, Attorney General Kathleen Kane suggested there may be a change in her office’s position against releasing pornographic e-mails it found were exchanged by current and former employees.
Kane is fighting criminal charges that she leaked secret investigative information and attempted a cover up. She says she’s innocent.
In a speech earlier this month Kane said the charges stem from her efforts to expose the participants in the chain of smutty e-mails. But the Office of Attorney General has contested The Philadelphia Inquirer’s efforts to obtain the entire set of records. A hearing is set next month in that dispute.
With the latest statement, Kane appears intent on releasing not just the e-mails but other “relevant materials,” and she’s asking the courts to clarify if she can do that.
“I am asking a court of jurisdiction to define what materials beyond the emails themselves can be released without violating grand jury secrecy laws covering these emails and their attending documents or the protective orders shielding their distributors,” said Kane in the written statement.
“It’s all part of telling her side of the story,” said Chuck Ardo, spokesman for the Office of Attorney General.
Kane has not explained how the pornographic e-mails invalidate the charges over her own alleged efforts to slip secret information to the press.
