this is "nightline." >> tonight, pennsylvania, porngate, she is the state's first elected female attorney general, uncovering thousands of pornographic, racist and sexist emails leading to the down falloff high ranking state officials. now she is under investigation herself. is this real or political revenge? plus, dog rescue. hollywood's elite and a real housewife. coming together to save innocent dogs half a world away. we're undercover with a rescue team on the ground. and tonight, trump on trump. >> she has a bad temperament. >> the latest attack from hillary clinton, campaign shake

up and will his children have a formal role in a trump white house.

♪ good evening and tonight you're going to hear what some of the most powerful people in america say to one another when they think nobody is listening.

you'll hear from the woman who revealed trading among high ranking officials and she is now facing a scandal of her own. >> i want you guys to be safe. >> reporter: pennsylvanipennsyl attorney general, kathleen cane, running away from danger is not her mo. >> we can get out, right? >> i wouldn't but you're ethe boss. >> reporter: today she's with the gun violence task force. but she says the real danger she never saw coming, not from criminals but her colleagues. a discovery that has shaken her entire state, putting her own career in jeopardy. >> 398 pages, much of it hard core porn. >> names have been named. >> reporter: a trove of emails her office discovered and made

public full of racism, sexism and pornography. the first time you saw these emails, what was your immediate reaction? >> oh, my god. >> reporter: it's been dubbed porngate. some of the state's highest ranking officials. >> number of judges, prosecutors, law enforcement. >> reporter: all in the state's email server. >> i couldn't believe there was violence involved. this wasn't just some play boy photos. >> the real issue here is the misogyny and the racism. >> reporter: these emails represent something more troubling about pennsylvania's justice system. >> if i'm the accused and i know the judge has sent these kind of emails and i look at the prosecutor who is not only close friends with the judge but exchanging these emails and thinking the same way, i don't

think i'm getting a fair shake in that court room. >> reporter: two of the state's seven supreme court justices, including eakin resigned. seamus mccaffrey could not be reached for comment. attorney general cane appointed former maryland ag to head the investigation. >> emails that would be offensive to any reasonable minded person. >> reporter: they spent months searching emails searching for things like the president's name. even the first lady wasn't off limits. with this supposed depiction of michelle obama's high school reunion. >> you look at this and say you got to be kidding me? >> reporter: these are the battles kathleen kane grew up expecting to fight.

a blue collar kid from scranton, pa. modest. >> modest. yes. i had two brothers too, and a twin sister. >> reporter: she became a rising star in pennsylvania's democratic party, earning bill clinton's endorsement while running for attorney general. >> i wasn't about to ask anyone's permission. >> reporter: she won not just becoming the first state's democratic attorney general but the first woman . when she exposed the emails, she claims the good old boy club was furious and out for blood, hers. >> the hard core pornography shared between state actors, during state time is unacceptable. >> reporter: so what happened to the self-style maverick who exposed the scandal? >> we're here today to announce the filing of charges against

pennsylvania attorney general, kathleen kane. >> i'm calling on her to step aside. >> reporter: the supreme court has suspended her law license. she could face jail time when her trial starts in august. your law license has been suspended? >> yes. >> reporter: when is the last time there was a woman oo who wasn't a lawyer who was an attorney general? >> when is the last time there was a woman and a democrat who didn't have to go through what i'm going through? >> she's accused of lying about it under oath. have you broken the law? >> of course not. as they say, you can indict a ham sandwich. >> i don't dcefend our attorn e general for her behavior. i tihink it's atrocious in

everywhere. >> reporter: she retaliated, according to a court complaint saying in an email to a straties stratiestra strategi strategist, this is war. by all accounts, there's bad blood. fair or unfair? >> i wouldn't know frank feinau if i tell over him. >> reporter: you never met him? >> in a staff meeting for five minutes once. >> reporter: kane later admitted to sharing the information but says it was not illegal. he declined "nightline's" request for comment. he'ser part of a select group suing her. according to this kane used intimidation, attempted blackmail for the use of silencing her critics. some would say you're admitting to boxing outside your weight

class. you weren't up for the challenge? >> i don't think anyone could know how this game was played. there's been a couple grand jurys, a suspension of my lawlysisenlaw license. the only thing that hasn't been done and i'm not being glub, assassinations. >> whether there's a gog old boys network or not, her own vin dictiveness appears to have brought her down. >> reporter: there are those who stand with the attorney general and those who stand with pundits. where are you? >> i don't know how anyone could stand on either side of the issue. >> reporter: according to kane's missteps, according to bookman, releasing the emails of her supposed rivals by minimizing the dozens sent and received by her own sister. kane eventually released those emails, including one she

received herself. >> the decision today i am comfortable with. >> reporter: she announced she will not seek reelection. >> while i love pennsylvania, i love my sons first. >> reporter: from darling of the dmp d damic party to doting mom, her sons have softened the fall. >> i explain to them that there comes a certain cost sometimes with doing the right thing and it is not always easy. >> reporter: her critics and supporters agree kane is a fighter. she still puts in a full day's work. recently making major headlines when covering a church sex abuse scandal. >> this abuse lasted for four decades. >> reporter: kathleen kane is now a rising star no longer beutthe thing that still drives her, she says, those thousands of emails, the interim report on

the investigations expected to be released in the coming weeks. she has a few more months left in office to leave her mark. >> there is a long way to go here. >> reporter: from "nightline," i'm byron pits, harrisburg e pennsylvania. nch . next why a-listers it's about the dogs. rprise for you. it's red lobster's new lobster and shrimp summerfest! with the lobster and shrimp... ...you love in so many new dishes, you're gonna wanna try... ...every last one. like the new coastal lobster & shrimp. with a wood-grilled lobster tail, ...wild-caught red shrimp crusted with panko, ...and shrimp fresh off the grill and brushed with... ...summer ale bbq sauce. or try the new lobster & shrimp overboard, ...because when a dish can wow you like this, ...overboard's the only way to describe it. but hurry, this ends soon.

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phoenix are joining an outraged cal calvekad of a-listers taking on k9 rights. here's bryan ross. ♪ >> reporter: it's become a world wide campaign. with its own theme song, street protests, and hollywood celebrities joining in. >> we're here asking you to stop the cruelty. >> stop the beatings. >> stop the burning. >> reporter: all aimed at a little known city in china that today, on the summer sole sts, began a week long festival of dogs served up as food. >> barbaric. heinous. >> reporter: for the owner of eight dogs and one of the real house wives of beverly hills. >> i'm passionate about dogs, just not crazy about --

>> reporter: the campaign began when she saw some of the photos that animal activists were able to record. >> you can never erase those images from your mind once you've seen them. >> reporter: for the last six years this chinese city has been home to the dog meat festival. restaurants today had signs offering boiled dog meat and dog meat with mashed garlic. apparently not bothered by the growing uproar over both the idea of eating man's best friend and the gruesome techniques at slaughter houses in the back corners. >> there's a lot of chinese activists and my partner, john, is intracted with them. >> been here for the past 12 days and about two days before we arrived, we got word that our activists had stopped a dog meat truck.

so, we've spent the past week working with the chinese activists to stabilize the 300 dogs and cats that were rescued from a dog meat truck. >> reporter: he says the efforts are starting to have an impact. >> the festival has been pushed back to what they call dog meat in the street and the brutal slotering is going on more behind the scenes but obviously still going on in back alleys. >> reporter: and now it has all been caught on camera by a team of american animal activists who sneaked into dog meat street and found what they described as dog slaughter houses. >> we use undercover cameras and we're able to obtain footage that hasn't been obtained yet before. >> reporter: wayne chung and julie anne parry provided abc news with the footage, most of which can't be broadcast under

abc's standards. >> i was shocked. breeds that americans know very well. >> you walk towards the slaughter house and you just hear screams. >> reporter: many waiting to be killed appear to have collars, they say. >> there are gangs of men that maraud the streets and will steal dogs off the streets because they know they can get 40, $50 if they ship dothem dow for a dog meat festival. >> reporter: it's been a tradition in china for centuries. they believe it will bring good luck. >> it's not wide spread. there are a few pockets where it's still ongoing and they believe dog is healthy for their body. >> two of the men picked up metal poles and were hitting them in their hands and i remember sitting next to wayne thinking this might be where i

die. >> reporter: the activists also found farms outside the city where dogs are being raised for slaughter. under chinese law, it is legal to sell dog meat and in a statement, the chinese government called it the food preference of individuals. it said the local government has never supported or org anized ay so-called dog meat festival. but they said local authorities took them into custody. >> they originally threatened to charge us with espionage. they released us after two days of intearigation. >> reporter: but before they were deported, they were able to rescue some dogs and leaving other dogs they'd seen to a darker fate. >> i had to watch this dog, knowing i would watch footage of him the next day being beaten

death. the fact i couldn't take him out was one of the most difficult things in my life. >> reporter: they're called the boys by the animal activists. leading a life safe from the slaughter house. >> living here in beverly hills, there are people emrsed in this every day and fighting against it and the only way you can implement change is by making noise and that's what we're doing. >> reporter: abc news. next, the children of donald trump and what the candidate is telling abc tonight about what kind of role his kids would play in a trump administration. >> announcer: abc news "nightline" brought to you by take viagra when they need it. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex.

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