NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CN) — A former aide to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane looked on in horror Thursday morning as prosecutors played a recording of him discussing politically motivated document leaks.
Kane, the first woman and first Democrat ever elected to attorney general in Pennsylvania, has been on trial all week on charges that she leaked grand jury information to embarrass her political enemies.
This morning prosecutors rolled tape on a secretly recorded phone conversation between political consultant Josh Morrow and his friend from April 22, 2014.
During his turn on the witness stand, Morrow's face contorted as the audio filled the courtroom.
"She has no cohesive strategy," Morrow said in the tape. "It's just like, throw shit against the wall and see what sticks. She is unhinged. If the strategy is to release the documents to the reports, I'm like fine with that, but this makes no sense."
With prosecutors noting that FBI Agent Christopher Beam authenticated the recording, Morrow admitted on the stand that he lied to the grand jury.
"I was trying to protect Kathleen," Morrow said. "She was my friend, and getting her elected was a very proud moment for me, but the lies started to unravel."
Having previously been held in contempt for refusing to testify against Kane, Morrow took the stand today as part of an immunity deal.
Morrow said he has "absolutely" been concerned about being prosecuted for "concocting this cover-up story."
The leaks occurred during Kane's second year in office after the Philadelphia Inquirer had broken a story that brought her bad publicity.
Prosecutors say Kane believed Frank Fina, a former state prosecutor, had leaked the information behind the story to the Inquirer.
To exact political retribution, according to the charges, she arranged for the Philadelphia Daily News to receive secret grand jury materials intimating that Fina had fumbled a 2009 investigation of Philadelphia civil rights leader J. Whyatt Mondesire.
Kane's former first deputy attorney general, Adrian King, has denied any knowledge of a leak, but the 2014 Morrow recording undermines his denials.
"Kathleen called me today, and was like, Adrian has documents for you to leak out ... all bullshit about Frank Fina killing the Mondesire investigation," Morrow said in the tape.
During his turn on the stand earlier Thursday, King insisted that he had no knowledge of the leaks.
"They're trying to frame me," King exclaimed on the stand, referencing both Morrow and Kane.
When Kane's defense counsel cornered King about his apparent skirting of procedure to get Kane's signature on wiretap requests, the witness became enraged.
"So, what you're saying is, she tried to set me up on that as well," King hissed.
Kane, 50, sat stoic and calm during the tense questioning by her attorney, Seth Farber. Wearing a bright blue suit, Kane leaned forward in her chair, with her chin in her hand, listening intently to the testimony.
"I was her chief deputy" said King, whom the Inquirer has reported used to date Kane when both were law students at Temple University.
"I would like to have thought I would have been briefed," King added.