By publishing a book about the investigation of former President Donald Trump, an ex-prosecutor created a predicament for himself—and for the man pressing the historic criminal case against Trump, District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg.
A New York federal judge repeatedly cites the book written by Mark Pomerantz, who formerly worked on a probe into Trump’s finances in the Manhattan DA’s office, when she ruled that Pomerantz should be compelled to answer a congressional inquiry into Trump’s prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote that Bragg appears unlikely to succeed “on the merits” of his arguments against Pomerantz’s subpoena. At Bragg’s request, an appeals court has put the subpoena on hold temporarily.
In her April 19 decision, Vyskocil listed 18 points from Pomerantz’s book, examples of publicly disclosed information that most often would remain under wraps while a case is pending. Thus, Pomerantz has already revealed information of the type that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and his House Judiciary Committee want to explore, the judge said.
Pomerantz’s Predicament
Vyskocil concluded that the House Judiciary Committee has a “valid legislative purpose” for questioning Pomerantz, despite protestations from both Pomerantz and Bragg.
Pomerantz complained that the subpoena will put him in an “untenable position,” forcing him to choose between ethical and legal consequences.
But the judge said, “Pomerantz is in this situation because he decided to inject himself in the public debate” when he authored People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.
The tell-all book was released in February, a year after Pomerantz left the Manhattan DA’s office in disgust over Bragg’s decision not to pursue a Trump indictment then.
From 2021 to 2022, Pomerantz had worked pro bono—without payment—as a special assistant DA investigating the Trump case. Most of that work was done under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr.; Pomerantz left in February 2022, a month after Bragg took office.
Since then, Bragg said his office developed more information that made the case against Trump ripe for prosecution.
By Janice Hisle
