this is "nightline." >> tonight, a spectacular fall. kathleen cain was pennsylvania's first elected female attorney general, crusading against corruption, uncovering thousands of pornographic, racist, and sexist e-mails leading to the downfall of high-ranking state officials. until she came investigation herself. >> did you break the law, have you broken the law? >> no, of course not. >> the verdict is in. plus for decades it was illegal to have more than one child in china. except in villages like this one where nearly every couple mysteriously has one boy and one girl. we journey to the remote territory and uncover centuries-old fertility rituals. >> this is where the people are going to come to take their oath and drink the pig blood.

it. kendall jenner gets up close and personal to answer 73 questions. >> what is modeling relevant like? >> a dream come true. >> why do some fans want to keep her away from the cover? first the "nightline 5." >> constipated? trust doctor-recommended du dulcol dulcolax. tablets for overfight relief, suppositories for relief in minutes. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief. >> covering is caring. because covering heals faster. to seal out water, dirt, and germs. cover with a water block clear bandage from band-aid brand.

good evening. a stunning development tonight involving a rising star in the democratic party. kathleen cain, pennsylvania's first elected female attorney general, was taking on what she called the old boys club, exposing racist and sexist e-mails. then she herself became the focus of a criminal investigation. and now the verdict is in. here's my "nightline" coanchor byron pitts. >> i want you guys to be safe, stay with you >> reporter: pennsylvania's attorney general kathleen cain at the peak of her power. when running away from danger was never her m.o. >> we can get out, right? >> hm, i wouldn't. but you're the boss. >> we're getting out. >> reporter: on this day she's in philadelphia with the gun violence task force to find a fugitive accused of attempted murder. but cain says the real danger she never saw coming, not from criminals, but her colleagues. a discovery that has shaken her

career in jeopardy. >> porngate scandal. >> 398 pages, much of it hard-core porn -- >> names have been named, x-rated material exposed -- >> reporter: a trove of e-mails her office discovered and made public full of racism, sexism, and pornography. >> the first time you saw these e-mails what was your immediate reaction? >> oh my god. >> reporter: the scandal has been dubbed porngate. but perhaps most shocking, who sent and received those e-mails. some of the state's highest-ranking officials. >> judges, law enforcement -- >> reporter: all on the state's e-mail server. >> i couldn't believe there was violence involved and i couldn't believe -- i mean, this wasn't just some "playboy" photos. >> the pornography grabbed it put but the issue is the misogyny and racism. >> reporter: for veteran public defender mark bookman these e-mails represent something more troubling about pennsylvania's justice system.

looking up and know a judge has sent these kinds of misogynistic and racist e-mails, i look at the prosecutor who's close friends with the judge, exchanging these em mails, i don't think i'm getting a fair shake in that courtroom. >> reporter: among those who reportedly resigned because of the scandal, two of the state's seven supreme court justices including michael eakin. his lawyer tells "nightline" he never sent nor received pornography. seamus mccaffrey, who retired amid the reached for comment. to measure the scope of the can call attorney general cain appointed former maryland a.g. doug ansler to lead an independent investigation. >> what we're seeing are e-mails that would be offensive to any reasonable-minded person. >> reporter: researchers spent months rifling through 5 million e-mails, searching terms like the president's name to detect racist e-mails. even the first lady wasn't off

michelle obama's high school reunion. >> you say, you've got to be kidding me, who made the decision to think this is an appropriate thing to send? >> reporter: these aren't the battles kath reason cain grew up expecting to fight. a blue collar kid from scran tan. >> fair to call your upbringing hardscrabble? >> i think so. modest, yes. i wouldn't change it. i had two brothers and a twin sister. >> reporter: she studied hard, went to law school, became a rising star in pennsylvania's democratic party earning bill clinton's endorsement while running for attorney general. >> i knew i could run for office and i wasn't about to ask anyone's permission. >> reporter: she won, becoming the state's first democrat elected attorney general and the first woman. >> my philosophy is i am who i am. >> reporter: when she exposed the e-mails, cain claims pennsylvania's political good ol' boys column as she calls it was furious and out for blood. hers. >> the hardcore pornography shared on state computers, on

boys. it's assault upon our criminal justice system and it's unacceptable. >> reporter: what happened to the self-styled maverick who exposed the scandal? >> we are here today to announce the filing of criminal charges against pennsylvania attorney general kathleen cain. >> reporter: amid calls for resignation -- >> i'm calling on her to step down as attorney general. >> reporter: the state supreme court suspended her law license. when we spoke to her this spring she was facing the prospect of jail time. >> your law license has been suspended. >> yes. if you're not a lawyer. >> no, not at all. >> when was the last time there was an attorney general in the commonwealth of pennsylvania who wasn't a lawyer? >> when was the last time there was a woman and a democrat in the commonwealth of pennsylvania who didn't have to go through what i'm going through? >> reporter: she was charged in a different case with perjury and criminal conspiracy for allegedly leaking grand jury information to embarrass a political rival, and then lying about it under oath. >> did you break the law? >> no. >> have you broken the law? >> of course not.

you can indict a ham sandwich. >> reporter: critics say she brought it on herself. >> i don't defend our attorney general for her behavior. i think it's atrocious in every way. >> reporter: when a former prosecutor from her office, frank fina, allegedly leaked a potentially damaging fact about her to the press she retaliated did according to a court complaint saying in an e-mail, this is war. >> by all accounts there is bad blood between you a fina. fair, unfair? >> i feel it's unfair for this reason, i wouldn't know frank fina if i fell over him. >> never met him? >> once at a meeting, five minutes. >> reporter: fina declined our request for comment. >> some are saying you're admitting to boxing outside your weight class, not up for the challenge, you don't know how the game is played. >> i don't think anybody could know how this game is played. they've done everything possible to me. impeachment resolutions, grand

of my law license. the only thing that hasn't been done and i'm not being glib is out and out assassination. >> reporter: here again her critics disagree. many of her wounds, they argue, were self-inflicted. >> whether there's a good ol' boys network or not, her own vindictiveness appears to have brought her down. >> there are those who stand with the attorney general, there are those who stand with her opponents. where do you stand? >> i don't stand with either. i don't understand how anybody could stand on either side of the issue. >> >> the attorney general has made a million missteps. >> reporter: among cain's missteps according to bookman, releasing e-mails of her supposed rivals while initially minimizing the dozens sent and received by her own sister, state prosecutor ellen beganahan. cain eventually released those including one she received herself. >> the decision today i am comfortable with -- >> reporter: in february the attorney general announced she would not seek re-election. >> while i love pennsylvania, i

>> reporter: from darling of the democratic party to doting mom. her boys christopher and zach have softened the fall. how do you explain this to christopher and zach? >> i explain to them that there comes a certain cost sometimes with doing the right thing and it is not always easy. >> reporter: critics and supporters agree cain is a fighter. despite her own troubles, in march she was still putting in full days, making major head lines for uncovering an alleged church sexual >> this abuse lasted for four decades. >> reporter: call her a casualty of a corrupt system or victim of her own demise, kathleen kane is a rising star no longer. the state's prosecutor today a convicted criminal. >> the attorney general has been convicted of crimes involving abuse of power and lying under oath. >> reporter: in a trial that began last week, kane was found guilty last night on all nine

somebody who felt that she was above the law. >> the verdict, conviction on all counts, was a crushing blow, i'm not going to say otherwise. >> reporter: kane, who did not testify, reportedly showed little emotion as the verdict was read. after four days of testimony from the prosecution, the defense called no witnesses. >> it's a tragic beyond any measure. and it's something that she has to deal with. she's a very strong woman. an s >> reporter: that strong woman is also a realist. despite her defiant defense of her actions to us last spring, kane announced her resignation today, effective at the close of business tomorrow, saying in a statement, "i have been honored to serve the people of pennsylvania and i wish them health and safety in all their days." kathleen kane faces jail time and is expected to be sentenced within 90 daze. her lawyers say she will appeal. for "nightline," i'm byron pitts

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they say you can't choose your family but don't tell that to the medicine woman of jiang li, china. we journey to the village where ancient fertility rituals are being credited for allowing parents to preselect the gender

here's abc's bob woodruff. >> reporter: in the tiny village of jiang li in china, it's one of the most important days of the year. for these little boys. but something's missing. where are the girls? it's actually a question everyone in china is asking. that's because for more than three decades, china made it illegal for most parents to have more than one child. >> china was experiencing a population explosion, so they thought they really needed to do explosion. >> reporter: but this produced a terrible, unintended consequence. >> when people were only allowed to have one child, women would resort to selectively aborting girls. >> reporter: fast forward to now. there's a huge shortage of women all over china. but not here. how cool is this? look how lucky they are.

at this. the government gave the people in this village special dispensation to have two kids each. and mysteriously, almost every couple manages to give birth to exactly one boy and one girl. how many of you boys have a sister? everybody who has a brother raise thei we wondered how this could be. they say it's a centuries-old secret kept by this medicine doctor, mrs. wu. she says she helps women choose the gender of their child using mysterious herbs she gets from hills near the town. >> what does it do for them? >> reporter: she tells us there is one kind for boys and another for girls, all used to make a medicine women take before they get pregnant.

she won't let us see the actual plants. >> you don't want to show me the difference? this is your secret, i think? "not even the villagers know the specifics," she says. >> so many people would give you money, they'd buy this if they could get some of it from you. >> reporter: she tells us she doesn't care about money, the secret is not for sale. back at her house, she even prevented me from climbing the ladder to the attic where she says she's hidden the according to mrs. wu, the water in these two wells also gives parents power to choose the gender. choose right for a girl, left for a boy. but the villagers try to leave nothing to chance. twice a year they hold a mysterious ritual that seems to defy common sense, science, and even nature itself.

married couples swear to only give birth to two children after they've married. a boy and a girl. watching these little kids dancing right here, look in this spot. this is where the people are going to come to take their oath and drink the pig blood. pig blood seals the deal. taste. and according to mrs. wu, it almost always works. 100% if they come to her, she says. this young couple had a son and is now looking for a daughter. he knows what it's like not to have the right kind of family. he grew up with a brother, not a sister. your parents had two boys? we've heard that's not happening, generally, here in this village. what happened?

>> the fact that in this village every couple has one boy and one girl makes me worry about second daughters. how is it, if the first child is a girl, that the second child is always a boy? are they practicing sex-selective abortion? >> reporter: this ruralillage tucked in this tiny valley says it has no need of modern medical techniques. even if their method doesn't always work. elsewhere in china where there are 120 men for every 100 won, would be a blessing. >> you have two beautiful daughters. >> reporter: this family, not so much. having more than two children here results in punishment. the wrong combination of children, in shame. all over the village, signs warn about having more children and even the art on the walls shows couples with boys and girls, no siblings of the same sex. almost every family in this village has stuck to the rule. do most of your friends that

girl? "more than 95%," he says. while in the rest of china young men scramble to find a wife. at this village there will be a bride for every groom. for now these kids dance and play at the ancestral festival. they'll take the oath when they get married, performing this ritual so they too can someday have a perfect family. for "nightline" i'm bob woodruff in jiang for that report. just this year china officially changed its one-child law to allow two children. but experts say it will take many years before there are equal numbers of men and women in china. up next, kendall jenner makes the cover of "vogue." controversy ensues. at the the lincoln summer invitation sales event,

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finally tonight, why the latest cover of "vogue" is so controversial. here's abc's mara schiavocompo.

>> the bachelorette." >> reporter: kendall jenner taking on "vogue's" rapid-fire and often revealing 73 questions. >> what's something about you you wished more people focused on? >> my ass. >> reporter: when not climbing stairs she's climbing the fashion ladder. all the way up to what many consider the holy grail, the september issue of "vogue." following the well-heeled footsteps of beyonce, jennifer lawrence, and sienna miller. the magazine's largest issue documented in the 2009 film aptly named "the september issue." while gracing the cover may be an honor, some internet critics aren't too pleased. taking to facebook to air their frustrations. wait, i thought vogue had taste. another writing, i can't stomach the kardashian people, but this certainly reflects the times we live in. >> what "vogue" did is trained a generation of celebrities to want to be supermodels.

>> reporter: kendall jenner remaining a staple, strutting down the runways. while everyone has a right to an opinion, kendall jenner probably won't be reading it. >> do you read internet comments? >> no. >> reporter: for "nightline," mara schiavocompo, abc news, new york. >> the issue hits newsstands on august 23rd. thank you for watching abc news tonight. join us for "gma" first thing in the morning and we' it's over. >> hollywood's nastiest divorce. the epic settlement. >> then, diving for gold. >> a dive. >> did she break the rules? >> plus, ivanka trump.