Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta Resigns Amid Controversy Over Jeffrey Epstein Deal
He resigned because he does not think “it is right for this administration’s Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus rather than the incredible economy.”
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta told reporters, with President Donald Trump by his side, that he will resign from his post effective in one week.
Acosta has come under fire recently over the way he handled the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 as US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
The anger towards Acosta for giving Epstein a sweetheart deal in 2008 has never fully gone away. It only came to the forefront after authorities arrested Epstein on July 6 and indicted him on sex trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking with underage females.
Acosta told reporters he decided to resign because he does not think “it is right for this administration’s Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus rather than the incredible economy.” He will release his letter later today.
Acosta allowed Epstein to plead “to two state prostitution charges, ultimately serving only 13 months and avoiding a federal trial,” and register as a sex offender while paying “restitution to the victims identified by the FBI.”
The deal also included secrecy from the victims, which went against federal law. A Florida judge ruled in February that Acosta’s team broke the law:
A Florida judge ruled in February, 2019 that the team of Miami prosecutors led by Acosta broke the law when they concealed that plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by Epstein.
“A judge has confirmed what we’ve known for some time – that when Secretary Acosta was a federal prosecutor, his office violated survivors’ rights under federal law when giving serial sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein what the Miami Herald calls ‘the deal of a lifetime,’ Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said in a statement in response to the ruling.
“The Department of Justice needs to swiftly investigate whether Secretary Acosta violated standard DOJ practice in giving Epstein this sweetheart deal, ensure accountability for any wrongdoing, and pursue justice for survivors.”
During a press conference yesterday, Acosta described Epstein’s crimes as “horrific” and expressed gratitude that prosecutors have gone forward with the case. Reporters asked him if he had any regrets, but Acosta just insisted that times have changed and prosecutors have more evidence. He also suggested that the world today “treats victims very, very differently.”
However, the conference went downhill after Acosta doubled-down on his actions in 2008. He claimed that “his office intervened only after state prosecutors were ready to let Epstein walk free.”
Barry Krischer, the man who served as Palm Beach County state attorney at that time, fired back that Acosta did not have facts to back him up because “[F]ederal prosecutors do not take a back seat to state prosecutors.”
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Fine, but this won’t end it. The MSM/DNC axis will say this resignation proves Trump is guilty of being a pedo because mumble reasons mumble orangemanbad.
The focus now will be on Trump and ignore everything and everyone else. Even Epstein will probably end up walking free after he fingers Trump with some vague unprovable accusation. That was really the whole point of the indictment in the first place.
Trump isn’t connected to this case – the entire Clinton Organization is, up to their necks, and the MSM are starting to figure that out. Now that Acosta’s gone, you’ll see the MSM shut up about it unless and until more charges are brought.
You are right that Trump is not connected to the case, but the MSM/DNC axis will say he is anyway. Already they have tried to turn Epstein into Trump’s BFF. This will be the media theme for the next few days and weeks: Trump was somehow ultimately responsible for Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.
The House of Clinton (and all other Democrats) will be protected by the prosecutors. It will not even be mentioned – period.
Yup. By publishing everywhere the only picture of Trump and Epstein ages ago.
Yet not a single mention of Bill and Hillary Clinton and all the money they got from Epstein.
The MSM truly is the enemy of the people.
Mueller was head of FBI at the time
as I understand it.
It’s ALL on Mueller’s head.
If there were any downside for Trump, we would be hearing about it 24/7.
The resignation just adds to the gravity of the crimes and the failure to prosecute.
This will eventually land in the lap of the people actually responsible.
Question: A ‘Florida judge’ ruled that the plea agreement broke the law. Is that a Federal judge, or State judge, and was Federal or State law supposedly broken? Seems a remarkably vague statement, and CNBC’s site didn’t help quantify it.
Also phrasing: Acosta *forced* Epstein to plead guilty to the charges, etc… not *allowed* since he had to agree to the conditions of the plea to take it, rather than get dragged into court.
Speaking of court, I find it quite believable that the Feds had to charge Epstein to avoid him skipping charges put forth by Democrat Barry Krischer under Democrat Governor Crist where Epstein had an approximate 90% record of Democrat contributions, and considering that 2008 marked the almost certain election of Democrat Obama as president. To delay long enough to go to trial would practically ensure the slippery weasel’s freedom, because Acosta would certainly be replaced as US Attorney during the trial period by yet another (D).
First of all, the 2005-2008 case was a state case. The feds did not get involved until the Palm Beach Chief of Police went to them. He did that because the Palm Beach State Attorney wanted to charge Epstein with a misdemeanor prostitution charge and let him walk. It was always a state case and the conviction was a state conviction, though the deal was largely brokered by Acosta.
Second, at that time, the feds would not have had jurisdiction, unless they could prove multi-state trafficking or prostitution. They were never able to develop a prosecutable case for inter-state trafficking.
Third, these cases are incredibly hard to prove, as almost all of the “victims” were well compensated and did not come forward of their own volition. In fact, one “victim” demanded immunity and, when she received it, was glowing in her portrayal of Epstein and denied that he had ever had sex with her. In the current interviews with “victims” of Epstein’s advances, much ois made of alleged force and intimidation as well as the age of the women, b uut no one asks how much these girls were paid for their “services” and exactly when they cam forward with their allegations.
Fourth, 2008 was a Presidential election year. And, at the time, Hillary Clinton was the seeming heir apparent to the Democrat Party. Bill Clinton was closely tied to Epstein and had a history of improper affairs with young women as well as allegations of rape. There was undoubtedly enormous pressure on both state and federal prosecutors to get Epstein to agree to a deal and get the story out of the media.
Fifth, given the lack of federal jurisdiction and the pressure to secure a deal with Epstein to avoid a trial during an election year, not to mention all of the politicians who had close relationships with Epstein, Acosta and Co. still brokered a deal which resulted in felony convictions and Epstein’s requirement to register as a sex offender.
While we would all like to see politics removed from law enforcement, this is not going to happen. There are always going to be political considerations in criminal cases. In this case, it appears that Acosta attempted to get as good a deal as possible, for the victims, under the existing circumstances, while still pleasing his political masters. Aosta could have simply said there were no prosecutable federal crimes involved and stepped back.
I wonder if Epstein ever said “Better put some ice on that”.
Acosta was a federal prosecutor – the 2008 case was a fed prosecution
Not true.
Epstein was never charged or indicted by federal authorities, in 2008. The feds DID investigate Epstein’s activities, but never charged him. Acosta negotiated a federal non-prosecution agreement, if Epstein pled guilty to state felony charges, was sentenced to 18-24 months in jail and registered as a sex offender. There was never any federal prosecution.
What Acosta did was to use the threat of a possible federal prosecution in order to pressure state authorities and Epstein to agree to the final terms of the deal.
Mac has given you an excellent summary of the case.
Acosta gave an honest assessment of his role.
Acosta’s original sin was foolishly bowing to political considerations in 2008. That sin was not appreciated, but rather recorded and held for future use. Acosta’s penance came due. Dancing with the devil is seldom a good idea.
I have wanted Acosta to resign for months, so I am overjoyed by this decision, and don’t care about the reason. Acosta was a deep state hack who had been slow walking needed reforms at the Labor Dep’t. He was one of Trump’s worst pics.
Ironically, and this amuses me most, the Left and the MSM (but I repeat myself) never had a single bad word to say about him before one week ago. Because up until then, he had always been doing everything they wanted.
Apparently he was able to hang on because he’d developed some personal rapport with Trump. Well, goodbye to bad rubbish.
You are wrong. Trump knew Acosta was a Clintonite. He picked him to make him a target, bringing Epstein and the fall of all those connected to him.
Now everybody knows about Epstein’s crimes. We’ll soon find out who he has been blackmailing for decades. Most likely Nancy Pelosi’s “faves”.
Barry Krischer, the man who served as Palm Beach County state attorney at that time, fired back that Acosta did not have facts to back him up because “[F]ederal prosecutors do not take a back seat to state prosecutors.”
Wow, this is the loser that is responsible for this. If the Chief of police had not called the feds, there would be no story here at all.
Listen to Ann Coulter here on WMAL yesterday.
https://omny.fm/shows/the-larry-o-connor-show/ann-coulter-on-the-larry-oconnor-show-07-11-19?in_playlist=the-larry-o-connor-show!podcast
So right.
No doubt, he will be compensated for his services if has not already been.
I wonder if one of the Clinton organizations is looking for some additional counsel.
If looking for additional counsel, I recommend the OC defense attorney team!
And here I was hoping for Jim Acosta to resign
It’s not like this will slow down the media to keep the Trump-Epstein connection top of the page and talked about on every show. Acosta resigning just makes it even MORE important they do all they can to distract from the other connections to Clintons and other Dems until it just cannot be avoided. Like during trial way down the road.
No to a warlock trial. No to a self-abortion. Perhaps a self-sacrifice. The boss may not consider him to be viable in his current position. He is, after all, a public servant.
That said, hopefully, the prosecution of pedophiles, abortionists, and transgender spectrum conversion therapists will proceed and mitigate their progress.
And who was in charge of the FBI when it was investigating Epstein?
None other than Dirty Cop Robert Mueller.
You don’t think Epstein’s arrest a few days before Mueller’s testimony in Congress followed by a reschedule of the hearing by Democrats was a coincidence, did you?
Cy Vance needs to hold a press conference and then resign. He lobbied hard to get the Level Three sex offender status removed from Epstein, so he wouldn’t be registered as a sex offender.
“It’s long past time for District Attorney Vance to end his silence and explain why his office went to court to reduce the sex offender status of Jeffrey Epstein,” said New York Law School professor Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who has already announced he’s taking on Vance in 2021.
https://nypost.com/2019/07/09/cy-vance-challenger-slams-da-for-downgrading-epsteins-sex-offender-status/
I think it’s fair to say Acosta presided over a failure. It was not a complete failure, but it was still a failure. I have difficulty taking the state prosecutor’s account at face value, but I see Acosta as neither saint nor mustache-twirling villain. He became a political liability because he was involved, and put in a purely human rather than superhuman effort.
I don’t have an opinion on whether he was a horrible pick or that Trump was right to keep him this long. Neither is really the issue at hand. His position was untenable, he resigned; that’s the honorable thing to do regardless.
The state prosecutor has dirty hands in all this, but he’s a Democrat so the media isn’t doing a deep dive on him like they’ve been doing with Acosta.