DON DITCHES OLD PERV PAL
Had ‘falling out’ with ‘terrific guy’ Epstein, & lets wrist-slap aide Acosta twist in wind
President Trump sought to distance himself from multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Tuesday and offered only lukewarm backing to embattled Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.
Trump admitted he knew Epstein from the Palm Beach, Fla., social scene but insisted he hasn’t seen the man he once praised as a “terrific guy” in years.
“I had a falling out with him a long time ago,” Trump said without elaborating. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn’t a fan. I was not a fan of his.”
“Everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump added to reporters during an Oval Office photo op with the emir of Qatar. “He was a fixture.”
Despite his newfound distaste for Epstein, Trump once praised him as a ladies’ man with a special taste for young women.
“He likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said in a 2002 interview with New York magazine. “No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump called Acosta a “very good” labor secretary but suggested he should have known better than to, as a U.S. attorney in Florida, only give Epstein a slap on the wrist for sexually abusing dozens of young girls a decade ago.
“If you go back and look at everybody else’s decisions … I would think you would probably find that they wished they did it a different way,” Trump said.
“I feel very badly actually for Secretary Acosta,” Trump added in remarks that echoed comments about other aides who departed the White House or were forced to quit soon afterward.
Trump’s remarks came minutes after Acosta defended his former office’s 2008 nonprosecution deal with Epstein — and sought to control the damage from Epstein’s shocking new indictment in New York.
“Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice,” Acosta wrote on Twitter.
Acosta is battling mounting calls for his resignation over his handling of Epstein’s prosecution on charges that he sexually abused dozens of young girls in Florida.
Critics say the deal that Acosta cut with Epstein was extraordinarily lenient, and left him free to commit more
crimes against underage girls.
Epstein, 66, a hedge fund titan, is currently being held without bail on sex trafficking charges filed by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Acosta framed the new charges as being the product of fresh evidence, not a failure of his handling of the case as a top Miami federal prosecutor. But critics say they involve much the same conduct that Acosta allowed to be virtually swept under the rug a decade ago.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) demanded Acosta quit or be fired.
“Jeffrey Epstein should have been behind bars years ago as a serial sex trafficker of children,” Schumer said on Twitter.
Hours earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had also demanded Acosta step down.
“He engaged in an unconscionable agreement (with) Jeffrey Epstein,” Pelosi tweeted.
Former Vice President Joe Biden also chimed in: “The abuse of a child is one of the most heinous, despicable abuses of power imaginable. It is inexcusably poor judgment for a US Attorney to seek leniency for someone guilty of it. Secretary Acosta should provide his resignation immediately.”
So far, Republican support for Acosta has remained steady.
He is a political ally of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and won unanimous support of Senate Republicans in a 2017 confirmation hearing.
The deal with Acosta allowed Epstein to serve just 13 months of part-time confinement in the relatively cushy custody of Palm Beach County authorities. The agreement, which was improperly kept secret from victims, allowed him to skirt federal charges that could have put him behind bars for life.
The sordid case got a second airing last year when the Miami Herald published a series about Epstein and the shocking deal.
Epstein used to have powerful friends on both sides of the aisle, including Trump and ex-President Bill Clinton. His new indictment has raised speculation about what information he may have on possible wrongdoing by old pals.
In a move that raised suspicion from critics, Attorney General William Barr decided Tuesday that he won’t recuse himself from overseeing the new case against Epstein, according to a Justice Department official.
Barr has been repeatedly blasted by Democrats for being overly protective of Trump.