Labor chief resists calls to resign
Acosta defends role on sex crimes deal in ’08 Epstein case
WASHINGTON — Trying to tamp down calls for his resignation, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta on Wednesday defended his handling of a sex-trafficking case involving now-jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein, insisting he got the toughest deal he could at the time.
In a nearly hourlong news conference, Acosta retraced the steps that federal prosecutors took in the case when he was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida a decade ago, insisting that “in our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims.”
He said prosecutors were working to avoid a more lenient arrangement that would have allowed Epstein to “walk free.”
“We believe that we proceeded appropriately,” he said, a contention challenged by critics who say Epstein’s penalty was egregiously light.
The episode reignited this week when federal prosecutors in New York brought a new round of child sex-trafficking charges against the wealthy hedge f und manager. And Wednesday, a new accuser stepped forward to say Epstein raped her in his New York mansion when she was 15.
While the handling of the 2008 case arose during Acosta’s confirmation hearings, it has come under fresh scrutiny after prosecutors in New York brought their charges Monday, alleging Epstein abused dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s, paying them hundreds of dollars for massages, then molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York. Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges; if convicted he could be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Acosta’s presentation was an effort to push back against growing criticism of his work in a secret 2008 plea deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution on charges that he molested teenage girls. A West Palm Beach judge found this year that the deal had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act because the victims were not informed or consulted.
Acosta was also out to persuade President Donald Trump to keep him on the job as Democratic presidential candidates and party leaders called for his ouster.
Acosta insisted his office did the best it could under the circumstances a decade ago. He said state authorities had planned to go after Epstein with charges that would have resulted in no jail time until his office intervened and pressed for tougher consequences, a contention that is supported by the record. The alternative, he said, would have been for federal prosecutors to “roll the dice” and hope to win a conviction.
“We did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail,” Acosta said. “He needed to go to jail.”
But the former Palm Beach County state attorney disputes Acosta’s account of why he signed off on the deal.
Barry Krischer, who was in office at the time, called Acosta’s recollection “completely wrong.”
Krischer, a Democrat, said that the U.S. attorney’s office’s always had the ability to file its own federal charges and that a lengthy indictment was prepared but “abandoned after secret negotiations between Mr. Epstein’s lawyers and Mr. Acosta.”
Epstein was given 13 months in a work-release program, which let him work outside of the jail six days a week. Acosta said it was “entirely appropriate” to be outraged about that leniency, but he blamed that on Florida authorities. “Everything the victims have gone through in these cases is horrific,” he said, while repeatedly refusing to apologize to them.
“I think it’s important to stand up for the prosecutors” in his old office, he said.
Acosta’s South Florida office had gotten to the point of drafting an indictment that could have sent Epstein to federal prison for life. But it was never filed, leading to Epstein’s guilty plea to two state prostitution-related charges. In addition to the work-release jail sentence, Epstein was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
Acosta has said he welcomes the new case, and earlier defended himself on Twitter, crediting “new evidence and additional testimony” uncovered by prosecutors in New York for providing “an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.”
Pressed on whether he had any regrets, Acosta repeatedly suggested that circumstances had changed since the case arose. “We now have 12 years of knowledge and hindsight and we live in a very different world,” he said. “Today’s world treats victims very, very differently.”
Trump has also defended Acosta, praising his work as Labor secretary and saying he felt “very badly” for him “because I’ve known him as being somebody that works so hard and has done such a good job.”
Trump encouraged Acosta to hold Wednesday’s news conference laying out his thinking and involvement in the plea deal, according to a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Early reaction in the White House appeared to be positive, with one official saying the news conference was likely enough to buy Acosta more time unless questions about his part in the 2008 case linger in the news.
Democratic presidential contenders and party leaders have been calling for Acosta to resign or be fired, and he has been called to testify July 23 in front of the House Oversight Committee .
Many Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have taken a wait-and-see approach.