NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had choice words Tuesday about a new book written by the former prosecutor who once led his office’s investigation into Donald Trump.
Bragg said he has not read Mark Pomerantz’s new tome, “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” but is sickened by what he’s heard.
“It is appalling that he insulted the skill and professionalism of our prosecutors. We have the most outstanding lawyers in the country working every day in the Manhattan district attorney’s office to keep the city safe — from the streets to the suites. We will continue to do the work of this office without distraction or disturbance,” Bragg said.
The DA was in office less than two months when Pomerantz, hired by the previous administration to head the Trump probe, quit in protest because Bragg refused to sign off on an indictment.
A grand jury hearing evidence about the former president’s business dealings expired a short time later, but the probe continued. Bragg’s office began presenting evidence to a new grand jury last week about Trump’s role in making hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Pomerantz, who went on a media blitz over the weekend, takes direct aim at Bragg in his book, as he did in his leaked 2022 resignation letter and a podcast interview, for his decision not to prosecute the former president.
The white-collar lawyer and former federal prosecutor, who was head of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s criminal division in the late 1990s, said he’d gathered enough evidence to prove that Trump and his eponymous family real estate business committed “serious crimes” conducting itself like a criminal enterprise.
He likened Trump to a mob boss in the book, describing him as going after anyone who crossed him and putting financial profit above all else.
On Tuesday, Bragg touted his background as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and the state attorney general’s office.
“I bring hard cases when they are ready. Last year when I took office, I did an exhaustive review of a matter put before me and came to the same conclusion that multiple senior prosecutors in my office independently came to, and that was that Mark Pomerantz’s case simply was not ready,” Bragg said.
“While Mr. Pomerantz quit a year ago, apparently to write a book, our excellent team continued the work on the case.”
Bragg also criticized Pomerantz for refusing to share a copy of his memoir before it was released.
“Notwithstanding our request for an advance copy of the book, which is certainly standard practice at the federal Department of Justice to get that type of review, we, as an office, and I, was not granted an advance copy,” Bragg said. “I haven’t read the book. I don’t know what’s in it, but I continue to be concerned that it could jeopardize or undermine our ongoing investigation.”
Pomerantz and Simon & Schuster did not immediately return requests for comment.
———
