Joining today's show are Nicolle Wallace, John Heilemann, Chris Jansing, Robert Costa, Rev. Al Sharpton, Ben Russell, Eli Stokols, Ayman Mohyeldin, Kasie Hunt, Gabe Gutierrez, Hallie Jackson, Jenna Johnson, Nir Barkat, Keir Simmons, Sara Eisen, Christopher Buckley and in Taji Japan today, all boats are tied up and staying in, so the Dolphins are safe for today. Blue Cove Day. 2015-12-28. 6:40am #dolphinproject #tweet4dolphins
Trump trolls Hillary, recalls Bill Clinton’s ‘penchant for sexism’
Fresh from setting off the latest firestorm of his presidential campaign — this time for vulgar comments he made last week about Hillary Clinton — Donald Trump continued to troll the Democratic frontrunner over the weekend, suggesting former President Bill Clinton’s past will dog her on the campaign trail.
“Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign,” Trump wrote on Twitter, “but HE’S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate.”
Donald J. Trump
Hillary Clinton has announced that she is letting her husband out to campaign but HE'S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate!
The tweet was in response to Hillary Clinton’s assertion that the Republican frontrunner has “demonstrated a penchant for sexism” in his quest for the GOP presidential nominee.
“I really deplore the tone of his campaign, the inflammatory rhetoric that he is using to divide people, and his going after groups of people with hateful, incendiary rhetoric,” Clinton told the Des Moines Register. “Nothing really surprises me anymore. I don’t know that he has any boundaries at all. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign. And he has to keep sort of upping the stakes and going even further.”
At a campaign rally in Michigan on Tuesday, Trump called the former secretary of state’s bathroom break during the Democratic debate “disgusting,” and that she had been “schlonged” by Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.
On Wednesday, Trump warned Clinton that she should “be careful” when calling other candidates sexist.
Hillary, when you complain about "a penchant for sexism," who are you referring to. I have great respect for women. BE CAREFUL!
It’s not the first time a GOP hopeful has threatened to use Bill Clinton’s infamous impropriety against Hillary this election cycle.
Last year, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul lashed out at Democrats for pushing the idea of the GOP’s “war on women” while forgiving former Bill Clinton for his “predatory” affair with Monica Lewinsky.
“The Democrats, one of their big issues is they have concocted and said Republicans are committing a war on women,” Paul said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”“ "One of the workplace laws and rules that I think are good is that bosses shouldn’t prey on young interns in their office.
"And I think really the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this,” Paul continued. “He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. There is no excuse for that, and that is predatory behavior, and it should be something we shouldn’t want to associate with people who would take advantage of a young girl in his office.”
Bill Clinton’s sexual relationship with Lewinsky, then a 22-year-old White House intern, led to his impeachment trial in 1998. Clinton was eventually acquitted of the impeachment charges.
“This isn’t having an affair,” Paul added. “I mean, this isn’t me saying, ‘Oh, he’s had an affair, we shouldn’t talk to him.’ Someone who takes advantage of a young girl in their office? I mean, really. And then [Democrats] have the gall to stand up and say, 'Republicans are having a war on women’? So, yes, I think it’s a factor. Now, it’s not Hillary’s fault. But it is a factor in judging Bill Clinton in history.”
It’s also not the first time Bill Clinton’s name has been invoked while discussing Trump’s comments about Hillary Clinton.
Last week, CNN’s Don Lemon ended a segment during which both his guests compared the outrage over Trump’s comments to Bill Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky.
“It’s gonna take a lot more for me to get upset at a woman who enabled a guy who turned the Oval Office into a frat house and his intern into a humidor,” Kurt Schlichter, a conservative lawyer, said on Lemon’s CNN show. “[Trump’s] running against a sexual harasser and abuser’s enabler. So again, I don’t know why we’re not talking about that.”
“We’re not talking about that because it has nothing to do with what happened,” Lemon responded. “She’s not her husband. Her husband has been impeached for that.”
For his part, Bill Clinton has spoken relatively fondly about Donald Trump.
“He’s a master brander,” Clinton said during an interview with CNN in September. “And when you’ve got a lot of people running, and people are trying, you’ve got to make distinctions. Being able to put a personal stamp on it so people identify who you are certainly counts for something, at least in the beginning.”
Clinton was asked if he believed Trump could win the GOP nomination.
“I think so; how do I know?” Clinton said. “But he’s got a lot of pizzazz and zip, he’s branded himself in a clear way, and he’s generated some excitement. And it remains to be seen what’s going to happen.”
A Terrified Trump Throws A Twitter Tantrum After Bernie Sanders Truth Bombs His Lies
A terrified Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum on Twitter after Bernie Sanders obliterated the billionaire by fact bombing his lies.
During an interview on CBS’ Face The Nation, Sen. Sanders said, “Meanwhile, interestingly enough, John, this is a guy who does not want to raise the minimum wage. In fact, he has said that he thinks wages in America are too high. But he does want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to top three-tenths of one percent.”
Trump responded by throwing a fit on Twitter:
The first time was during the Fox Business Republican presidential debate:
During the debate, Trump said, “But, taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can’t do it.”
Trump repeated the same point about wages the next morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
Trump said, “We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high. Our wages are too high.”
Sen. Sanders (I-VT) responded to Trump by saying that the billionaire is getting nervous.
Sanders said, “Donald Trump says that I’m a liar because I said he believes wages in America are too high. Really?…It appears that Mr. Trump is getting nervous that working families are catching on that his policies represent the interests of the billionaire class against almost everyone else. He refuses to support raising the minimum wage. He believes wages are too high, and he wants to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very richest families in America. That’s not an agenda that ‘makes America great.’ It’s just another Republican billionaire wanting to make the very rich richer at the expense of working families.”
The Democratic presidential candidate nailed it, but I would suggest that nervous was a bit of an understatement. Trump is terrified that voters will catch on to his fraud. Donald Trump is a con man who is trying to fast talk his way to the White House.
Bernie Sanders has done something that no Republican presidential candidate has been able to do. Sanders has thrown Trump off of his game. Both Sen. Sanders and former Sec. of State Clinton understand that Donald Trump is a bully, and the way to handle a bully is to stand up to them. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio get weak in the knees every time they confront Trump. Ted Cruz alternates between embracing and avoiding Trump.
The Democrats are the only candidates who have been willing to knock Trump down.
Donald Trump doesn’t want a fight with Bernie Sanders because this is the real world, not reality television. Sanders is a political brawler who will not only take on Trump. He will defeat him.
A Terrified Trump Throws A Twitter Tantrum After Bernie Sanders Truth Bombs His Lies
A terrified Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum on Twitter after Bernie Sanders obliterated the billionaire by fact bombing his lies.
During an interview on CBS’ Face The Nation, Sen. Sanders said, “Meanwhile, interestingly enough, John, this is a guy who does not want to raise the minimum wage. In fact, he has said that he thinks wages in America are too high. But he does want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to top three-tenths of one percent.”
Trump responded by throwing a fit on Twitter:
.@BernieSanders-who blew his campaign when he gave Hillary a pass on her e-mail crime, said that I feel wages in America are too high. Lie!
Video proves that Trump has said that wages are too high twice.
The first time was during the Fox Business Republican presidential debate:
Trump repeated the same point about wages the next morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
Sen. Sanders (I-VT) responded to Trump by saying that the billionaire is getting nervous.
Sanders said, “Donald Trump says that I’m a liar because I said he believes wages in America are too high. Really?…It appears that Mr. Trump is getting nervous that working families are catching on that his policies represent the interests of the billionaire class against almost everyone else. He refuses to support raising the minimum wage. He believes wages are too high, and he wants to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very richest families in America. That’s not an agenda that ‘makes America great.’ It’s just another Republican billionaire wanting to make the very rich richer at the expense of working families.”
The Democratic presidential candidate nailed it, but I would suggest that nervous was a bit of an understatement. Trump is terrified that voters will catch on to his fraud. Donald Trump is a con man who is trying to fast talk his way to the White House.
Bernie Sanders has done something that no Republican presidential candidate has been able to do. Sanders has thrown Trump off of his game. Both Sen. Sanders and former Sec. of State Clinton understand that Donald Trump is a bully, and the way to handle a bully is to stand up to them. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio get weak in the knees every time they confront Trump. Ted Cruz alternates between embracing and avoiding Trump.
The Democrats are the only candidates who have been willing to knock Trump down.
Donald Trump doesn’t want a fight with Bernie Sanders because this is the real world, not reality television. Sanders is a political brawler who will not only take on Trump. He will defeat him.
Iraqi Forces Liberate Ramadi from ISIS. Iraqi counter terrorism forces have liberated Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, from ISIS.
Iraqi counter terrorism forces raised the Iraqi flag Monday over the city of Ramadi, a day after liberating its residents from Da’esh (ISIS) terrorists, a military spokesperson said.
Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar Province, was seized by Da’esh in May.
“Yes, the city of Ramadi has been liberated,” said joint operations spokesperson Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool in a statement broadcast on state-run television.
“The Iraqi counter terrorism forces have raised the Iraqi flag over the government complex in Anbar.”
Rasool added that tribal fighters in the region would be expected now to hold the city that finally had been liberated.
“We have trained hundreds of tribal fighters; their role will be holding the ground,” he told Reuters. “Seeing their own tribes responsible for security will be a relief for the civilians,” he added.
Sabah al-Numani, a spokesperson for the Iraqi counter terrorism unit told Reuters, “By controlling the complex this means that they [Da’esh] have been defeated in Ramadi.”
The offensive had been supported by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, but Iran-backed Shi’ite militias were barred from participating in the operation by the Iraqi government in order to avoid sectarian violence. Anbar Province is primarily populated by Sunni Muslims.
The anti-terrorist units are still involved in mop-up operations, al-Numani stressed.
[They] are “working day and night on the disposal of improvised explosive devices and car bombs left by ISIS militants in central Ramadi who have escaped in the direction of Al-Khaldiya,” Lt.-Gen. Abdul-Ghani Asadi told the Sputnik news agency.
Monster storm system spawns tornadoes, blizzards, flooding. A monster storm system stretching from New Mexico to Michigan and Georgia marched eastward Sunday, bringing a broad mix of weather from tornadoes and flash floods to blizzards and freezing rain.
A day after fatal tornadoes and summer-like temperatures in the Dallas area, the immediate forecast called for freezing weather and snow, and the National Weather Service reported quarter-size hail south of the city.
The Texas panhandle was under a blizzard warning along with eastern New Mexico and parts of Oklahoma.
Winter storm warnings were in effect from Texas north to Michigan, and at least nine states farther east were on alert for flash floods, which already killed at least 13 in Missouri and Illinois.
Strong tornadoes confirmed
The National Weather Service on Sunday confirmed three tornadoes were part of the storms that ripped through the Dallas area a day earlier, killing 11 people and damaging hundreds of buildings.
The governor declared a disaster in four Dallas-area counties Sunday, urging caution as a new wave of severe weather began to hit Texas in the afternoon.
An EF-4 tornado, which typically has wind gusts of between 166 and 200 mph, was responsible for the destruction in hard-hit Garland, the National Weather Service in Dallas-Fort Worth said. Eight of the 11 reported deaths happened there, Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineu said, and 600 structures were damaged.
The damage in nearby Rowlett was from an EF-3 tornado, which has typical gusts of between 136 and 165 mph.
Three deaths were reported in Collin County, said Lt. Chris Harvey, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. CNN affilate KTVT said they included two deaths in Copeville, where the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-2 tornado, and the death of an infant in Blue Ridge.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Austin declared a disaster in Dallas County, which covers Garland; Rockwall County, which covers Rowlett; and Collin and Ellis counties.
The Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service said there was an unconfirmed report of a tornado in eastern Ellis.
More extreme weather to come
Parts of Texas were experiencing extreme swings in the weather. Dallas had a high of 82 degrees Saturday and was down to 41 on Sunday, with freezing temperatures forecast for Monday, according to CNN meteorologist Rachel Aissen.
Quarter-size hail was reported in Mansfield, south of Dallas, Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
Theresa Saad
The high today was 74 and the low is 34. Thanks, Texas! Here's some hail for your viewing pleasure.
Blizzard warnings were in effect through Monday evening in eastern New Mexico and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. The affected areas could receive more than eight inches of snow, the agency said, with possible snowdrifts higher than six feet.
That snow will eventually work its way down to Dallas, blanketing and freezing over communities in the middle of tornado clean-up. The Texas governor said almost the entire portion of the state north of Interstate 10, which runs through Houston and San Antonio, was already dealing with challenging weather conditions.
Abbott urged Texans to remain vigilant to perilous conditions north of I-10, including the threat of rising waters.
As of late Sunday morning, people in some parts of New Mexico had already seen more than 16 inches of snow fall with drifts as high as 8 feet, making roads impassable in several counties, according to the governor's office.
Gov. Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency Sunday in response to the snowstorm.
In addition to snow, icy conditions and strong winds are expected from central Oklahoma up into Kansas, making the roads dangerous for driving.
In Oklahoma, crews were busy treating highways and bridges with salt and sand, according to Oklahoma's Department of Energy Management. As of late Sunday morning, there were at least 8,000 power outages around the state, with the most being in Lawton, about 90 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
Severe weather moves east
As a result of the same storm system, 20 states from New Mexico to Michigan and Georgia had some type of weather watch or warning Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Roughly half of them involved wintry conditions like blizzards, ice and heavy snow, while the others involved other severe weather like tornadoes and flash floods.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings Sunday afternoon for a handful of counties in northeastern Texas, southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Tornado watches were in effect for much of Louisiana and Arkansas.
Three adults and two children died after their car was swept into a creek swollen by heavy rains in Marion County in southern Illinois, which was under a flash flood watch Sunday, County Coroner Troy Cannon said.
The car was traveling over a low-water crossing that normally has very little water trickling across the road, if any at all, Cannon said. With the recent heavy rains, that trickle grew into several feet of swiftly moving water.
Flooding and freezing forecast in Missouri
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Sunday as heavy rain led to widespread flooding across much of the state, with more heavy rain and flooding expected through Monday.
At least eight people have died, Nixon's office said. They include six people whose cars were swept away by rising waters on rural roads Saturday night, Pulaski County Sheriff Ron Long said.
"Streams turn into rivers, and people sometimes don't see the road has flooded over when they are driving at night," Long said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has made dozens of water rescues and helped evacuate residents from flooded areas, Nixon's office said. Many roads were closed because of flooding and Nixon said people in flooded areas should avoid travel if possible.
Nixon urged caution in northern Missouri, where snow, freezing rain and increasing wind gusts were expected to accompany a drop in temperatures.
Widespread flash flooding also caused problems in Arkansas. In Benton County, which borders Missouri, 50 roads were closed and the county judge issued an emergency disaster declaration.
Air travel affected
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport because of the weather.
Southwest Airlines canceled 70 flights across its system Sunday, spokesman Dan Landson said. American Airlines announced the cancellation of 170 flights out of the airport Sunday. Both airlines are based in Dallas.
Praying under a mattress
In some neighborhoods in Garland, the storms ripped facades off houses, leaving gaping holes. Cars that had been in driveways ended up inside homes after the tornado barreled through, witnesses said.
Officials said earlier that five of the deaths were related to vehicles hit by a tornado in southeast Garland.
Garland resident Pat McMillian said the tornado left neighborhoods in darkness.
"All I heard was the roaring of the tornado, and my mom told us to get in the bathroom," McMillian said. "Then we went across the hall to make sure everyone was OK. The church across the street was destroyed."
Afterward, they left their house and sought shelter elsewhere.
"We are in our car now, and I'm not sure where we are going to go," McMillian added. "It's extremely hot, and there is no power."
Lafayette Griffin and his family hid under a mattress and prayed as the tornado hit.
"It was terrifying. It was terrifying," he said. "They didn't know if they were going to make it."
CNN's Jessica Jordan, Chuck Johnston, Faith Karimi, Shanna Pavlak, Rachel Aissen, Steve Almasy and Chandler Friedman contributed to this report.
Chicago Police Shooting: LeGrier, Jones Families Demand Answers.
Friends and family of the two people shot and killed by a Chicago police officer — one accidentally — joined local officials in calling for answers and reform on Sunday.
The Chicago Police Department said that an officer responding to a "domestic disturbance" at a home on the city's West Side on Saturday fatally shot a "combative subject," Quintonio LeGrier, 19. Bettie Jones, a 55-year-old mother of five, was "accidentally struck and tragically killed" during the encounter, police said.
The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the deaths of LeGrier and Jones as homicides. Both Jones and LeGrier — a college student — were black.
Chicago police didn't say how many officers were involved, but they said that the officer or officers who responded were on administrative duty for 30 days and that the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) would investigate the shooting.
The deadly incident was among three police-involved shootings in Chicago in less than 12 hours. Later Saturday, officers responded to an "assault in progress" and shot an armed man, according to the Chicago Police Department. He was undergoing surgery.
The shootings prompted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to order the Independent Police Review Authority to, in addition to the investigation, work with the Chicago Police Department to review how officers are trained in responding to mental health crisis calls.
"I have asked that they determine the deficiencies in the current training, and determine what steps can be taken immediately to address them," Emanuel said. "We will continue to ask tough questions of the police department, of the investigative agencies, and of ourselves, to drive the reforms the people of Chicago deserve and expect."
Jones and LeGrier's family and friends criticized the police response and questioned the city's administration. Some spoke called for Emanuel to step down.
"Why do you have to shoot first and ask questions later?" Jones' friend Jacqueline Walker asked Sunday during a news conference outside the home where the first shooting happened.
LeGrier's mother, Janet Cooksey, said: "The police are supposed to service and protect us, yet they take the lives. God is with me, because I don't know how I am standing here before you today. No mom should have to bury her child."
Cooksey said her son was "a good child."
LeGrier was home on break from Northern Illinois University, where he was majoring in electrical engineering technology, when he died, according to the AP.
Jones, described by loved ones as a "beautiful" and "loving person," was the mother of five children and an activist with Chicago's Action Now Organization, according to a GoFundMe account set up for her family.
"Chicago police murdered one of our own early this morning," Action Now said in a statement Saturday.
The use of force by Chicago police has been a hot-button issue since the recent release of a video showing an officer shooting black teen Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014.
The U.S. Justice Department announced an investigation into Chicago police practices earlier this month, which will "focus on CPD's use of force, including racial, ethnic and other disparities in use of force, and its systems of accountability."
U.S. Rep. Bobby Bush of Illinois said the shooting of LeGrier and Jones "adds salt to the wound" for Chicago's citizens.
"Why weren't tasers used in this incident? Why were shots fired before other deescalating tactics were employed? Why does shooting someone to death seem to be the default tactics of the city's police force?," he said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Jones' family Sunday before calling for President Barack Obama to make a visit to his home city. "This is the epicenter of urban violence," Jackson said. "We need help."
A prayer vigil for Jones was held Sunday afternoon in front of the home where she was shot, said the Rev. Marshall Hatch, pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
"Miss Jones is really a good neighbor," Hatch said. "She was merely trying to let the police in. I don't know how you lose your life for that."
Pornographic email scandal roils Pennsylvania politics.
Over the past 15 months, beleaguered Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has released a steady stream of messages retrieved from a state email server that show state officials and employees trading pornographic, racist and misogynistic messages.
There are jokes about rape and sexual assault, photos mocking African Americans and other minorities, and insults leveled at people because of their weight, their sexual orientation or their religion. At least two state Supreme Court justices and numerous officials in the office of the attorney general have been caught in the scandal that has been dubbed “Porngate.”
A small sampling: A photo of a pantsless woman on her knees performing oral sex on a man is captioned “Making your boss happy is your only job.” A picture of a white man fending off two African American men while carrying a bucket of fried chicken reads “BRAVERY At Its Finest.” The sender of the email that shows a group of men engaged in sex included this message to friends, “How friggin gay are you?”
“When you see these emails . . . it’s just a swamp of misogyny, racism, homophobia and white privilege. It taints everybody, especially in the judicial branch,” said Bruce Ledewitz, associate dean of academic affairs and a law professor at Duquesne University School of Law. “Some of these things are really disgusting. You get the impression that every white male office holder in the state is a creep.”
It’s a massive scandal, with a new twist each week, but it has produced little uproar among state residents. Still, those who do pay attention say this epic mess is a disaster for the state’s justice system.
“Nothing in Pennsylvania [political] history even comes close to this drama, with the complexity and ongoing nature of this, the potential ramifications and multiple moving parts,” said longtime politics watcher G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
One complicating factor in the sprawling scandal is that it is hard to separate the “creeps” from the heroes. Kane, the first woman and first Democrat elected to that office, faces a criminal indictment for felony perjury and multiple misdemeanors in an unrelated case for allegedly leaking grand jury information to embarrass a political rival and then lying about it under oath.
The odd result of those criminal charges is that the state’s top law enforcement official has had her law license suspended and is fighting efforts in the state Senate to have her removed from office. Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, has asked her to resign.
Kane, whose office uncovered these scandalous emails through an unrelated investigation, has long maintained she’s innocent of the charges. She has cast herself as a victim of a powerful, political “old boys network,” angry that she’s shared their darkest emails.
But recently, Kane was forced to address questions about some emails sent by her twin sister, Ellen Granahan Goffer, a state prosecutor and one of Kane’s top deputies. One message, for example, featured a photo of a smiling woman with bruises on her face and the caption, “Domestic violence — because sometimes, you have to tell her more than once.”
Goffer’s emails only became public after critics pushed Kane to release them. Her office initially denied there were any emails involving the attorney general’s sister, then backtracked and said they’d found a few questionable exchanges.
Now Kane’s critics believe she is using the email scandal to divert attention from her own legal problems, releasing more emails each time the case against her worsens.
“She’s been manipulating this and has people thinking she’s a victim,” Ledewitz said. “If she’s properly removed, thousands of people will believe it had to do with the emails. Her use of the scandal is almost worse than the scandal itself.”
Madonna noted that Kane has released another round of emails each time her own legal troubles make news. About 10,000 messages have been shared at this point. There could be as many as 100,000.
“She could have released these at any time — she’s had more than a year — but she’s using them as a weapon against her critics and opponents,” he said. “If she goes down, it will be because she is convicted of the charges that she lied to a grand jury and then covered it up.”
Thus far, the scandal has resulted in the firing of at least six state employees and the resignation of a state Supreme Court judge. Another justice will go before a judicial ethics board later this month on charges of misconduct. If found guilty, he too could be removed from the bench.
At least 60 people working for the attorney general’s office were reprimanded because of sexually explicit content found on their state computers. Kane’s sister was not disciplined but she could be in the future.
But beyond the graphic and insulting nature of the exchanges, a larger problem is the seemingly chummy relationships the emails reveal between prosecutors and judges, court watchers said.
“That’s what separates and elevates our system of justice over all others in the world. When we learn that they are so close they are exchanging horribly improper emails with each other, we lose faith not only in the independence of the judiciary but also the judgment of both parties,” said Marc Bookman, director of the Philadelphia-based Atlantic Center for Capital Representation. “Anyone who neutrally looked at Pennsylvania and tried to gauge the quality of jurisprudence in the state would have to laugh and say, ‘What in the world is going on there?’ . . . Our justice system is about as out of control as it can get.”
The grand jury testimony that led to Kane’s perjury indictment has links to one of the most notorious sex-abuse scandals in Pennsylvania history.
During her 2012 campaign for attorney general, Kane accused Gov. Tom Corbett (R) of mishandling the sexual abuse case against former Penn State University football coach Jerry Sandusky for political reasons. The investigation began when Corbett was attorney general, but charges against Sandusky were not filed until Corbett was elected governor. . Kane implied that Corbett slowed the investigation so as not to lose the votes of thousands of Penn State alumni.
After being sworn into office in 2013, Kane appointed a special investigator to review Corbett’s handling of the Sandusky case. In June 2014, her investigator released a report exonerating Corbett.
What was not made public at the time, but is now dominating the headlines, was that the Sandusky investigation uncovered a trove of inappropriate emails. Once media outlets began to report the existence of these emails, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille demanded Kane release them. She provided 4,000 of the emails, including ones that show a political rival, Frank Fina, in a very bad light.
During his stint as a state prosecutor, Fina was part of the team that investigated and prosecuted Sandusky. When Kane came into office with her pledge to review that case, Fina and two other state prosecutors left and went to work for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.
Fina is linked to many of the offensive emails — sending as well as receiving them. An email sent from his account with the subject line “FW: New Office Motivation Policy Posters” featured a photo of a woman having anal sex with the caption, “Take advantage of every opening.” Two other former state prosecutors who had joined the Philadelphia district attorney’s office were also part of many of the email exchanges.
The bad blood between Fina and Kane goes beyond the emails. When Kane took office in 2013, she decided not to pursue criminal charges against at least five Philadelphia Democrats — including four state elected officials and a traffic court judge — who were caught accepting cash or gifts from a lobbyist. Fina had been the top prosecutor during the three-year undercover investigation.
Someone in Kane’s office released to the media details about her decision in a clear move to embarrass her. Kane countered that she’d shut down the investigation because it was poorly managed and seemed to target African Americans.
Fina and two other top state prosecutors then moved to the Philadelphia district attorney’s office. It was a letter to court officials from Fina and another lawyer involved in the email investigation that prompted the probe resulting in the criminal charges against Kane — ones that could end what was once thought to be a promising political career.
Amid an uproar that he fire the three men, Williams conducted his own review. He noted that the three did not send or receive any emails while working in his office and there was no evidence they’d behaved improperly since joining his team. Instead, he said, he required them to complete one day of sensitivity training in November.
Bookman, who spent 27 years as a lawyer for the Defender’s Association of Philadelphia, questioned Williams’s judgement.
“Rather than making a decision that his office will operate on the highest plane, he decides sensitivity training is all that’s called for,” Bookman said. “We’re talking about grown men. This sort of thinking is not going to change with six hours of training.”
On Dec. 3, Philadelphia City Council members, by a vote of 13 to 2, approved a resolution calling on Williams to fire the three tainted lawyers. That same day, Williams announced all three had been moved to advisory roles. Kathleen Martin, who recently took the job as Williams’s chief of staff and chief integrity officer, said those reassignments were meant to reassure citizens that the office was dedicated to keeping the city safe.
“We’ve listened to the citizens,” she said. “We’re moving forward prosecuting cases with the goal of putting this all behind us.”
State Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D) suggested that a better name for the scandal would be “Hategate” and those adjustments ignore a much larger problem exposed by the emails — that these prosecutors were biased against women and minorities.
“For anyone to say these were personal thoughts and they’re regretful and they can separate them from their jobs, that’s about as credible as me saying I can fly to the moon,” Williams said. “By myself.”
