NEW YORK _ Disgraced former state prosecutor Eric Schneiderman, facing a pair of criminal probes, has hired a lawyer of his own.
Schneiderman, the former New York attorney general who is facing allegations of physical assault from four women, brought in top Manhattan defense attorney Isabelle Kirshner to represent him.
Veteran lawyer Kirshner, who worked as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office before moving into criminal defense, confirmed the Wednesday hiring.
Schneiderman faces investigations from a special prosecutor and the Suffolk County district attorney over allegations that he choked, slapped and verbally denigrated the women.
Schneiderman emerged from his Upper West Side apartment Wednesday without saying a word about the charges against him.
"Thank you," the 63-year-old attorney instead told the media horde assembled outside his home. "Thank you, have a nice day."
Schneiderman, dressed in a blue sports coat and light-colored pants, climbed into a waiting black Lincoln Navigator and quickly drove off.
One day earlier, he steered clear of the public and his office in the last official hours of his term. Schneiderman resigned Monday night.
The two-term state attorney general resurfaced shortly before Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended his decision to name a special prosecutor in the Schneiderman probe _ wresting the case from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
"To me, that is the best path forward," Cuomo said at a Brooklyn news conference. " ... I don't even want the whiff of a perception of a conflict of interest or impropriety."
Cuomo cited the ongoing investigation by the AG's office into Vance's handling of a 2015 case where accused serial predator Harvey Weinstein allegedly groped an Italian actress.
Though the NYPD pushed for charges, Vance's office opted to drop the probe.
On Tuesday night, Cuomo named Nassau County DA Madeline Singas as a special prosecutor in the Schneiderman investigation.
Vance and his prosecutors, who had launched their own probe with the NYPD, now found themselves on the sidelines as the possible prosecution of Schneiderman moves forward.
Suffolk County DA Timothy Sini is also investigating Schneiderman over an alleged slapping incident that happened in his Long Island bailiwick.
Cuomo, noting that Schneiderman's accusers claimed they were slapped, choked, verbally abused and threatened, said the need for a clean slate going forward was paramount.
"It's essential that they know they're going to have an unbiased, objective finder of act," said Cuomo. "And they're not going to be intimidated and there's not collusion."
Vance fired back that any conflict of interest was manufactured by the governor and his decision to politicize the case.
One of Schneiderman's neighbors enjoyed a laugh at his expense Wednesday, sending a message via paper airplane to the press corps.
"If you want me to come down, first send a large pepperoni pizza and a 6 pack of Heineken to Apt 7G," the letter read once it wafted to earth. "Then, maybe I'll come down."
The note was signed "E."
Schneiderman took over the job in January 2011, and was running for re-election this November when the bombshell allegations forced his resignation in a matter of mere hours.
According to sources, Schneiderman never addressed his staff after stepping down from his job. Ex-staffers were shocked at the allegations of physical abuse.
Most of those interviewed by the New York Daily News said charges involving Schneiderman and excessive drinking, womanizing or even drug use would be far more believable than the actual allegations.
"Beating up a woman in bed doesn't square with the person I spent time with, not the public figure, the person," said one former staffer. "He had a history of having relationships with women who were younger and I always wondered why, but I never imagined this. Not in a million years."
A second former Schneiderman worker agreed.
"If you told me he was womanizing, fine," said one former staffer. "Everyone knew he had an eye for the ladies. But nothing like this."
A third ex-staffer said Schneiderman had a penchant for appearing in the office at 11 a.m. with red eyes and shaky hands.
"It was all the classic signs of a hangover," the one-time staffer said. "But I never heard of anything like what's been said by these women. I was surprised, but they sound credible."
