Turns out the case against Kathleen Kane wasn't the work of the Harrisburg "old boys network" after all.
It was all about porn.
That was the word from the embattled attorney general after she strode to the microphone 17 minutes later for her own press conference yesterday in the state capital.
Those who expected a demur announcement from the state's top law enforcer that she would be stepping down in light of the criminal charges filed against her were wrong.
Instead a defiant Kane said the roots of the charges filed against her in connection with leaking information from an investigating grand jury were an attempt to keep a treasure trove of pornographic emails from ever becoming public.
Kane, who was indicted last week on charges she leaked information from a grand jury investigation to make a rival look bad, lied about it to the grand jury, then tried to cover it up, painted a picture of the case against her being built by "powerful men" who were hip deep in pornographic, racially and religiously offensive emails.
This was high drama, as good as it gets in Pennsylvania politics.
First there was the tension as a roomful of reporters waited for Kane to make her appearance. An aide actually came out at one point and said the attorney general would be out in two minutes.
Then Kane strode to the podium and delivered her scripted, 14-minute message. She did not take any questions, a decision she says she came to on the advice of her attorneys.
There was one other thing she didn't bother to do, either.
Other than proclaiming, "I am innocent of any wrongdoing," Kane did not really address the serious charges filed against her, including perjury.
Instead she laid out a new version of the story, originating in the investigation she had pledged so often during her campaign for the attorney general's seat, that being a review of the investigation of the handling of the Jerry Sandusky Penn State sex scandal by then-attorney general Tom Corbett.
It was during that review that Kane unearthed the "filthy email chain," which she believes were routinely exchanged by "powerful men," including prosecutors who worked for Corbett as well as judges. She believes all of the actions taken against her are an attempt by this cabal of powerful men to make sure those emails never become public.
Several members of the attorney general's office, as well as one Supreme Court justice have already lost their jobs after being tied to the emails. In total there have been six firings, 23 reprimands and two resignations, including Justice Seamus McCaffery.
To hear Kane talk about it, that's just the tip of the iceberg. And her legal troubles are the result of a concerted effort to insure that those emails never see the light of day.
She called on Montgomery County Judge William Carpenter, who is overseeing the the grand jury process, to release all the emails, and also to release documents related to the protective order, which she alleges he signed to prevent the release of any more emails.
"The chain of events that led to charges being filed against me did not begin with the printing of newspaper stories in the spring of 2014 ... No, the chain of events that led to this moment began long before that and it began with a gang of state prosecutors and judges passing pornographic, racially offensive and religiously offensive emails among each other.
"From the moment this email traffic became discoverable ... some involved in this filthy email chain have tried desperately to insure that these emails, and more importantly their attachment to it, never see the light of day."
Sure sounds like a case of the "good old boys" vs. the first Democrat and first woman ever elected attorney general.
But that's not the way Kane sees it. At least not anymore.
She again made it clear she has no intention of stepping down or leaving her office, despite continued pressure that she do so. Among those issuing that plea is none other than the leader of her party, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
There is talk of impeachment, of a legal maneuver to strip her of her law license, which would in effect make her unable to fulfill the duties of the office.
Kane ended her statement by talking to her two sons, lamenting they had to find out about the charges before she was able to tell them herself.
Despite this latest remake of Raising Kane, the attorney general still has a problem. Nothing she said yesterday explains the actions she took that resulted in the charges being filed against her.
That most certainly was not the work of any old boys network. The decision to bring charges, as recommended by the grand jury, was made by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
Yesterday Kane looked to change the focus of the case. And she may have done that.
It certainly was a moment of high drama.
But then that's not exactly news when it comes to Kathleen Kane.
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