Throughout his career as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara faced off against mobsters, prosecuted hedge fund managers in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis, and took down two of New York’s most powerful politicians on corruption charges. One of his oddest cases, though, was that of which the New York press dubbed the “cannibal cop.”

In 2012, Bharara’s office was made aware of a New York City police officer who posted online his desires to, among other things, kidnap women and eat them after putting them into a gas oven he had sketched out a blueprint for. Bharara won a conviction during a jury trial, but ultimately a judge overturned it on the grounds that an individual cannot be convicted for writing down their fantasies. On the outset, Bharara, like many others, felt the officer was a danger to society, but the judge felt differently — and in the judicial system, only another judge or the president can overturn a federal conviction.

In his new book, "Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law," Bharara hopes to illuminate the complex world of the law while sharing some personal insights about the relationship between laws and morals that he learned from working on cases like the "cannibal cop."

“In this age when people are concerned about the rule of law, and [the] undermining of institutions ... and you have people around a president saying things like truth isn’t truth and there are alternative facts, [it’s important to] take a step back and talk about what makes justice work,” Bharara said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Thursday. Bharara is also the host of a political podcast, “Stay Tuned with Preet.”

President Donald Trump, though, is barely mentioned in Bharara's book, which was released on Tuesday. Rather, it focuses on the ins and outs of being a prosecutor, and the meticulous way U.S. attorneys construct their cases. Bharara says that political turmoil in Washington has sparked a new interest in the American legal system, which was one of his inspirations for writing the book.

“It’s an odd thing that folks around the country care a lot about what former prosecutors think and say. I turn on cable television these days and half the people I see are people who used to work for me in the Southern District,” Bharara said. “The American public wants to hear from them because they want to know, not only how does it work ... they want to understand that there are good people who still care about things.”

An admirer of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Bharara says he expects there to be a fight between Congress and the Trump administration to make public his report into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. What worries him, however, is that if the fight takes too long, it could delay the report's publication until after the 2020 presidential election.

“My big fear is not that ultimately we will not see the report,” Bharara said. “For various reasons, political and otherwise, I think much of it will become known, but how long is it going to take and how long can people muck up the works, and how many claims of executive privilege are going to be lodged?”

According to Bharara, the story could change if Mueller was subpoenaed to testify in front of Congress to discuss his findings, something several lawmakers have already voiced an interest in doing.

“I think if he’s asked to testify, and he thinks it’s appropriate to testify — he doesn’t hide, he doesn’t run away — [and] he will present himself,” Bharara said. “The nice thing about that scenario, in terms of transparency, [is] the default is that he’s going to come and talk and the White House has to stop him. Whereas, with respect to the report, the default is the report doesn’t go out, and the Congress has to try and get it.”