Wednesday, July 10, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Insisting he got the best deal he could at the time, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta today defended his handling of a sex-trafficking case involving now-jailed financier Jeffrey Epstein as he tried to stave off intensifying Democratic calls for his resignation.
"Facts are important and facts are being overlooked," Acosta told a news conference at Labor Department headquarters, where he retraced steps federal prosecutors took in the case a decade ago when he was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Acosta said state authorities planned to go after Epstein with charges that would have resulted in no jail time until his office intervened and pressed for tougher consequences.
Acosta is being assailed for his part in the secret 2008 plea deal he signed that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution on charges that he molested teenage girls. But he was unapologetic Wednesday as he declared his office did the best it could under the circumstances.
The deal Acosta helped broker has come under new and intense scrutiny after prosecutors in New York on Monday brought new child sex-trafficking charges alleging Epstein abused dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s, paying them hundreds of dollars in cash 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 said he welcomed the new case, saying of Epstein: "His acts are despicable." Earlier he 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."
"The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence," he wrote.
Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, also defended Acosta's conduct, telling reporters, "The reality is that the defense attorneys in that case actually tried to get Alex removed because they thought he was such an aggressive prosecutor in this case."