The Latest: Pennsylvania AG vows to continue email probe

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The latest on the Pennsylvania Senate’s plan for a vote on Wednesday to remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general is vowing to press on with an investigation into the exchange of lewd and objectionable emails on state computers after the defeat of a state Senate resolution to remove her.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane issued a statement Wednesday, shortly after the Senate failed to reach the supermajority required to kick her out of office as she fights criminal charges with a suspended law license.

She says the Senate vote will enable her to continue her investigation and help restore confidence in the state’s judges and prosecutors.

Kane also says the state House is acting too hastily in giving a committee power to begin a process that could result in her impeachment.

She says the House should wait to take up impeachment until the criminal case against her is over.

Kane is awaiting trial on charges she illegally leaked grand jury material and lied about it.

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2:55 p.m.

Pennsylvania senators have failed to muster enough votes to remove state Attorney General Kathleen Kane from office. It’s a win for the embattled prosecutor who’s fighting criminal charges she leaked secret grand jury material.

The Senate voted 29-19 on Wednesday in favour of a resolution that asserted there was reasonable cause to direct Gov. Tom Wolf to remove Kane on grounds that her lack of an active law license makes it impossible to perform her duties.

But it needed a two-thirds majority of the 50-seat Senate.

The state Supreme Court suspended Kane’s law license in October.

Also Wednesday, the state House approved a resolution to investigate whether to start a more conventional removal process that would require impeachment by the House and a vote in the Senate.

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2:25 p.m.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a resolution to investigate whether to remove the state’s top prosecutor as state senators continue to debate whether to order her removal through a second process.

The House voted 170-12 on Wednesday to authorize the Judiciary Committee to recommend whether Attorney General Kathleen Kane should be impeached. Her law license was suspended in October after she was charged with leaking grand jury material and lying about it.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Ron Marsico has said the panel’s work could be finished in May or June.

Meanwhile, the Senate is in its second hour of debate over whether it should invoke a section of the state constitution last used in 1891 to remove Kane from office.

Kane’s called the Senate’s manoeuvr unconstitutional, but hasn’t said what she’ll do if it passes.

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12:10 p.m.

Pennsylvania senators are debating whether to remove from office Attorney General Kathleen Kane, on grounds her lack of an active law license has made it impossible to do her job.

The Senate on Wednesday began debate under a section of the state constitution that allows it to order the removal of civil officers with a two-thirds vote of approval.

The measure passed out of a committee on party lines, with all Republicans in favour and all Democrats opposed. Kane is a Democrat.

Kane’s called the manoeuvr unconstitutional but hasn’t said what she’ll do if it passes.

Her law license is under temporary, indefinite suspension while she fights criminal charges of leaking secret grand jury material and lying about it.

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11:57 a.m.:

A resolution to remove Pennsylvania’s attorney general because her law license is suspended is on the Senate floor for a vote of all members.

The Senate Rules Committee voted on Wednesday to advance the measure that targets Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

All 10 Republicans on the committee are in favour of the resolution, while all six Democrats are against it.

The Senate is acting under a section of the state constitution that allows it to order the removal of civil officers with a two-thirds vote of approval.

Kane’s called the manoeuvr unconstitutional but hasn’t said what she’ll do if it passes.

Her law license is under temporary, indefinite suspension while she fights criminal charges of leaking secret grand jury material and lying about it.

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3:01 a.m.:

Pennsylvania’s attorney general faces a vote in the state Senate on whether she should be removed from office on grounds that she cannot properly run the office while she lacks a valid law license.

The Republican-controlled Senate plans to vote on a resolution Wednesday on whether to remove Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

The Senate is acting under a section of the state constitution that allows it to order the removal of civil officers with a two-thirds vote of approval.

Kane was charged last August with leaking secret grand jury material and lying under oath about it. Seven weeks later, the state Supreme Court voted unanimously to suspend her law license.

Kane is fighting the charges and argues that the Senate’s process isn’t constitutional. Kane’s running for a second term.