Prosecutors concerned Trump will be able to use an insanity defense: new book

A new book by ex-prosecutor Mark Pomerantz is claiming former President Donald Trump could beat possible criminal cases by playing insane.

The book, set to hit shelves next week, will detail discussions that happened as the Manhattan District Attorney's office considered bringing both a racketeering case and a fraud case against Trump.

As the Daily Beast reported, Pomerantz argues there was a concern that Trump could get away without taking any accountability by being judged mentally incapable.

“To rebut the claim that Trump believed his own ‘hype’... we would have to show, and stress, that Donald Trump was not legally insane,” Pomerantz writes.

“Was Donald Trump suffering from some sort of mental condition that made it impossible for him to distinguish between fact and fiction?” he continues. There were reportedly a group of high-power DA lawyers who “discussed whether Trump had been spewing bullshit for so many years about so many things that he could no longer process the difference between bullshit and reality.”

Trump once described himself as a "very stable genius," and "like, a really smart person." While an insanity defense might help him escape accountability, if believed, it likely wouldn't help his 2024 campaign.

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An excerpt from TheNew York Times detailed that Pomerantz was desperately pressing for a prosecution, not using the hush-money fraud case involving Stormy Daniels but racketeering. Ultimately, it was decided not to move forward before the Manhattan District Attorney's office changed hands and Alvin Bragg took over at the beginning of 2022.

“The team thought it would be irresponsible to try to indict the case before the end of the year,” Pomerantz says. "Many of the lawyers were relentlessly negative, dwelling on all the difficulties and issues with the case and seemingly refusing to acknowledge the positives.”

“It was frustrating to feel like we were about to march into battle and were strapping on our guns and equipment, but when we looked around at the rest of the platoon we saw a lot of conscientious objectors,” he says.

Pomerantz resigned from the DA's office when Bragg allegedly said he “‘could not see a world’ in which we would indict Trump." Bragg now says it has not been ruled out.

“After closely reviewing all the evidence from Mr. Pomerantz’s investigation, I came to the same conclusion as several senior prosecutors involved in the case, and also those I brought on: More work was needed,” Bragg said in a statement to the Times.

Read the full report from the Daily Beast.