Acosta faces calls to resign over Epstein case
Labor secretary challenges claims plea deal was too lenient, calling it ‘toughest’ available
WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta on Tuesday faced fresh calls to resign — and rising pressure from inside the Trump administration — over his role in brokering a lenient plea deal over sex crimes for New York financier Jeffrey Epstein when Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Miami more than a decade ago.
Acosta, 50, told a friend this week the plea agreement, in which Epstein served 13 months after being accused of sexually abusing dozens of young women and underage girls, was the “toughest deal” available in a complex and difficult case. The prosecution, he said, would have stood a far better chance of succeeding in the state courts — the same argument he has been making for years.
“The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence,” Acosta wrote Tuesday on Twitter.
“With the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted Epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator,” he continued. “Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.”
That is not likely to satisfy critics.
“Mr. Acosta has a lot of explaining to do, and none of his public statements to date come anywhere close to providing a rational explanation,” said Jack Scarola, a Florida lawyer who represents several of the victims.
The indictment Monday of Epstein by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman, on child sex trafficking charges — and a raid on the hedge fund multimillionaire’s mansion that uncovered a cache of lewd photographs — represents a grave threat to Acosta and an implicit rebuke of the deal he cut as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Political pressure
Congress’ top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, called for his resignation, as did the Miami Herald, which uncovered the details of the plea deal, which was initially kept secret from victims under the agreement between Acosta and one of Epstein’s lawyers, Jay Lefkowitz.
“If Acosta, when he was U.S. attorney in Miami, had shown an ounce of sympathy for the vulnerable girls Epstein sexually exploited, they would have had a powerful voice on their side,” the paper’s editors wrote. “If Acosta had not shown himself to be ethically challenged 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be calling for his resignation as U.S. secretary of labor now.”
For the moment, President Donald Trump supports Acosta, although two senior administration officials said that could quickly change if more damaging details emerged about the plea agreement.
Trump said Tuesday he felt badly for Acosta and praised him as “an excellent secretary of labor” as he met with the emir of Qatar. He added, “I do hear there were a lot of people involved in that decision, not just him,” a reference to the Epstein plea deal. But he said the White House would look into the matter “very carefully.”
Former law enforcement officials who referred the case to state and federal prosecutors in South Florida in 2006 praised the New York prosecutors for completing a job they said Acosta could not, or would not, do more than a decade ago.
“Thankfully, U.S. Attorney (Geoffrey) Berman and the other authorities in New York have the good judgment to investigate and prosecute Epstein in the way that should have occurred in Florida over a decade ago,” said Michael Reiter, the former chief who ran the Palm Beach Police Department at the time of the Epstein investigation.
“Ultimately, the appropriate authorities should apologize to the victims for the way that this was handled by prosecutors in Florida, change the laws that allow children to be labeled prostitutes and do whatever is necessary to make sure that this miscarriage of justice cannot happen again,” he said.
The evidence against Epstein a decade ago in Florida was “overwhelming,” said Scarola, calling the terms of the nonprosecution agreement signed in secret by Acosta’s team “totally unjustifiable.”
The White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, did not reply to a request for comment.
“I’m giving you a ‘no comment,’” said Eric Holland, Acosta’s spokesman.
White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on personnel matters, said Trump had no plans to fire Acosta, whom he regarded as a loyal and, until now, no-drama member of his Cabinet.
Trump has often stood by embattled Cabinet members and other subordinates at first, only to turn on them later when their plight has become a personal embarrassment or political liability. Acosta has not spoken with the president about the Epstein case recently, according to a senior White House official familiar with the situation.
Trump aides said the decision ultimately rested with Acosta and whether he was willing to ride out the ugliest episode of his career. A key moment to watch, aides said, will be next week’s scheduled Cabinet meeting. If Acosta quits, it will likely happen before then, aides said.
Flawed from the start
None of Acosta’s fellow prosecutors in the Miami U.S. attorney’s office have come forward to publicly defend his conduct in the Epstein case. But two former Acosta colleagues and another former Justice Department lawyer familiar with the case cast his role in a more favorable light.
The case, they said, was flawed from the moment FBI officials, frustrated that local prosecutors could not get Epstein labeled a sex offender, presented it to Acosta’s office in hopes of getting a tougher penalty.
The case was a headache from the start. In 2006, Epstein’s highpowered legal team met with senior prosecutors in Acosta’s office to persuade them to drop the case. Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein’s lawyers, argued the federal sex trafficking law cited in the 53page indictment prepared by the FBI made the case difficult because Acosta’s team would have to prove that Epstein crossed state lines with the intent to abuse minors.
But to Acosta’s critics, it was not only the substance of the plea deal that was troubling but also Acosta’s apparent coordination with Epstein’s lawyers to keep details quiet. That was done so victims would not have time to scuttle the deal.
“Pursuant to the illegal agreement the victims were not only kept in the dark, they were actively lied to by government agents,” Scarola said. “Hiding the secret deal was inexcusable.”