Ex-aides: Pa. AG Kane leaked files, lied for revenge

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A perjury and obstruction trial set for closing arguments Monday pits Pennsylvania’s attorney general against two former confidants who testified that she leaked grand jury evidence to a newspaper and lied about it under oath.

Kathleen Kane, a first-term Democrat, is charged with releasing secret files to embarrass a rival prosecutor and then inventing a story to frame someone else for the leak.

“Revenge is best served cold. Her words,” a prosecutor said in opening statements, nodding to Kane at the defense table.

The tale of personal feuds and political gossip spun in the suburban Philadelphia courtroom last week often seemed petty. But there were times the testimony veered into what prosecutors called Kane’s taste for “cloak-and-dagger” techniques.

Her political consultant described being taken by her security agents to a Philadelphia parking garage to be frisked for a wire - and stripped of his wallet, cellphone and keys - all so he could have lunch with Kane at a hotel.

They met to concoct a cover story for the grand jury, consultant Josh Morrow testified Thursday at the Montgomery County trial.

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