Manhattan DA worried upcoming book could hamper Trump inquiry
Ryan King
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is urging a former prosecutor “not to take any further steps that would damage an ongoing criminal investigation,” with his upcoming book about his experience investigating former President Donald Trump.
Although the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is not actively trying to hinder the publication of the book, written by Mark Pomerantz, Bragg is worried that the book will hamper his investigation of Trump and may breach ethics rules, according to a recent letter sent to the publisher.
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“Mr. Pomerantz is under an obligation to receive prior written permission from the DA’s Office before making any disclosures relating to the ‘existence, nature, or content’ of any communications or records or documents that relate in any manner to the investigation he participated in as a Special Assistant,” the letter contended, according to the Washington Post.
Pomerantz departed the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in February 2022 and has since criticized Bragg for being too timid on indicting Trump, claiming that prosecutors had the goods to bring charges against the former president over his business practices. The book, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, is slated for release on Feb. 7. In the book, Pomerantz is expected to lay out why he believes Trump should be prosecuted.
Bragg’s general counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote the letter to the book’s publisher Simon & Schuster, which underscored that Bragg’s office has not been given the opportunity to preview the roughly 304-page book before publication.
“The district attorney’s interest here is to protect the integrity of this office’s pending criminal investigations and proceedings regarding the former President,” the letter added, per the news outlet, noting that because Pomerantz “has been separated from the DA’s office for nearly a year, he is not capable of making any assessment of whether disclosures he intends to disseminate in this publication” might affect the outcome of the case.
The letter also raised concerns that the release of the book could impede upon New York’s grand jury secrecy law which prohibits officials from publicly divulging “the nature or substance of any grand jury testimony, or any decision, result or other matter.”
Pomerantz recently formed a law firm alongside Carey Dunne, another lawyer who stepped down from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office over disagreements with Bragg’s handling of the Trump case. The criminal investigation into Trump began in 2019 under Bragg’s predecessor Cyrus Vance. Bragg has been apprehensive about bringing charges forward against Trump out of fear of losing, according to Pomerantz.
Last week, the Trump Organization was hit with the maximum fine for a tax fraud scheme that Bragg’s office prosecuted. Trump himself was not directly implicated, but Bragg’s investigation remains ongoing. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, recently confirmed he had a 2 1/2-hour meeting with Bragg’s team.
Bragg’s team has reportedly zeroed in on the “hush money” payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels around the time of Trump’s 2016 campaign, which had been the original focus of the inquiry. Cohen helped facilitate those payments.
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The Washington Examiner contacted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for comment.
Trump is also facing scrutiny from special counsel Jack Smith revolving around the Mar-a-Lago classified document ordeal and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Last September, New York Attorney General Letitia James unveiled a sweeping $250 million civil fraud case against the Trump business empire.