Letterman and Birkett

Lawyer for Letterman’s accused blackmailer Joe Halderman says Dave’s not telling ‘full story’

By now nearly everyone has heard David Letterman’s side of the story – delivered in a 10-minute “Late Show” monologue on Thursday that seemed to come from nowhere. Today the lawyer for alleged extortionist Robert “Joe” Halderman made the rounds on morning television to spin the story and hint that there are more shocking revelations to come.

Gerald Shargel, the lawyer for alleged David Letterman extortionist Robert Halderman, says Letterman is a “master at manipulation”– and hinted there’s more to the sordid story, which Letterman bared on national TV last week. Shargel, who made the rounds on the morning news shows, was on to defend Halderman, a “48 Hours” producer who’s accused of attempting to shake Letterman down for $2 million – or else go public with Letterman’s sexual dalliances with female “Late Show” staffers. He pleaded not guilty Friday in Manhattan to attempted first-degree grand larceny.

“So to think that David Letterman gave the entire story, and there’s nothing more to be said, it’s simply wrong,” Shargel told Ann Curry on this morning’s “Today” show.

“You can’t take at face value what the prosecutor has said,” said Shargel, who disputed Curry’s suggestion that he faced an uphill battle in the legal war. When Curry pointed out that his client had cashed a $2 million check and had been recorded on a detective’s wire, Shargel’s response was a brief: “I’ve been at this a long time.”

Curry continued to dig deeper and try to get something that might balance one’s view of Halderman. Shargel instead criticized Letterman for being a “master manipulator of the media,” prompting Curry to tell him, “I’m giving you access to media this morning and you are not giving your client’s side of the story.”

On CBS’ “Early Show” he said. “Here’s a guy who is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, who has dealt with cops and wiretaps and undercover investigations virtually his entire life. Look at the fact that there was a $2 million check. In the history of extortion, I don’t think there’s been a single case where the alleged extortionist took a check in payment. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Stephanie Birkitt

“I’m not saying he didn’t take the check,” Shargel continued, “but the question at the end of the day is, what was his intent? One of the things that the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, one of the elements of the offense, is that Joe Halderman had specific criminal intent. And I say to you and to the public that we shouldn’t rush to judgment, because I think, at the end of the day, when the case is tried and after the cross-examination of David Letterman and the full story comes out, I’m confident that a jury will not find that specific criminal intent.”

Shargel said Letterman wasn’t telling the whole story in Thursday’s on-air announcement that he was being blackmailed. “I’m here to say, ‘Not so fast,” Shargel said on “Good Morning America.” “I look forward to cross examining David Letterman because I don’t think the full story is before the public.”

Prosecutors say Halderman offered to “sell” Letterman a “screenplay” based on the comedian’s dalliances with staffers on the “Late Show.” Letterman quickly told his lawyer, who then informed prosecutors. A sting operation was set up and Halderman was caught after depositing a check that was “designed to bounce” at his local bank, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, Letterman staffers were bracing for a “strange” show where David Letterman beat them to the punch by coming clean on the accusations they were alleging. The Ed Sullivan Theater has been dark since Letterman went public and cops arrested Halderman. Since then, the names of at least two of Letterman’s lovers, both interns, have emerged: Ex-intern Stephanie Birkitt who was once the live-in girlfriend of Halderman and Holly Hester, a former “Late Show” intern from NYU who said she was “madly in love” with Letterman when they secretly dated in the early 1990s.

Pit-bull attorney, Gerald Shargel, is notorious for his cross examinations and is chomping at the bit to grill Letterman. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to cross-examine David Letterman,” Shargel told The Post yesterday. “That’s the day that the whole story will be told.”

Famous for earning a surprise acquittal for the late “Dapper Don” John Gotti on an assault charge in the early 1990s, Shargel excels at shredding witnesses. He once got a plea deal for Carlo Gambino’s sons following their 1992 extortion trial because he destroyed the credibility of a state trooper. “You’ve got to smell the weakness,” Shargel once said. “Where is this person vulnerable?”

Groups of eager fans gathered outside the theater all day Sunday, hoping to snag any remaining tickets for the day’s taping. Guests for Monday’s show are Steve Martin and “Glee” star Lea Michelle.

Meanwhile, Halderman spent most of Sunday sequestered inside his Norwalk, Conn., home yesterday – emerging only once for an inexplicable minute-long drive around the block.