U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald trying to kill book about him, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports

WASHINGTON--Newsweek's Michael Isikoff is reporting that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to kill a book "he believes maligns his reputation. In the past year and a half, Fitzgerald has written four letters to HarperCollins--owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.--demanding it "cease publication" and "withdraw" copies of Triple Cross, a 2006 book by ex-TV newsman Peter Lance that criticizes Fitzgerald's handling of terror cases in New York in the 1990s."

..."To put it plain and simple," he wrote in a June 2 letter obtained by NEWSWEEK, "if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued."

The Chicago-based Fitzgerald e-mailed Isikoff: "The book's claims....are "outrageously dishonest."

And this: "A time stamp on one of the letters shows it was sent via fax from the U.S. Attorney's Office, though Fitzgerald said he was "not aware" it would be visible, and Justice permits "incidental use of fax machines" for "personal business."