Clinton ally and Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane was forced to resign from her post Tuesday after a jury found her guilty of nine criminal offenses.
“I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days,” Kane said. Her resignation will go into effect Wednesday.
Kane faced charges of perjury and obstruction for allegedly leaking details of confidential grand jury proceedings in order to hurt Republican rival and former state prosecutor Frank Fina, and then lying under oath about doing so.
She was considered a rising star in the Democratic party after her 2012 election as the first female Pennsylvania attorney general. Bill Clinton endorsed her that year over former Pennsylvania congressman Patrick Murphy. She had also worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Kathleen is a great Democrat who understands that an Attorney General’s job is to stand up for consumers and people,” Clinton said in a press release at the time.
In February, Kane, wracked with a suspended law license and criminal charges, announced she would not run for reelection.
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf called for her resignation soon after the verdict was announced Monday.
“I do not believe Kathleen Kane should be Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I believed this when she was charged, and today, after conviction, there should be no question that she should resign immediately,” Wolf said in a statement.
Kane was required by state law to leave office “by the day of her sentencing,” according to the
For more on Kane’s trial, the New York Times reports:
