On Friday Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said he will be resigning from his position as the Secretary of the Department of Labor. This is following blowback from a plea deal he made in 2008 with convicted child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Thank you, @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/Q9bxwmzKQM
— Secretary Acosta (@SecretaryAcosta) July 12, 2019
“I hate to see this happen,” President Trump said. He also was sure to point that this was Acosta's call, not his. “This was him, not me,” Trump said.
Acosta pointed out that he didn't want to be distracted from his work as Labor Secretary by his handling of the Epstein case. “My point here today is we have an amazing economy and the focus needs to be on the economy job creation,” Acosta said.
It will be seven days before his departure is effective.
According to the Associated Press, Epstein reached the deal to “secretly end a federal sex abuse investigation involving at least 40 teenage girls that could have landed him behind bars for life. He instead pleaded guilty to state charges, spent 13 months in jail, paid settlements to victims and is a registered sex offender.”
With the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted that Epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator.
— Secretary Acosta (@SecretaryAcosta) July 9, 2019
According to President Trump, people were happy with the deal when it was made and now 12 years later they are not happy with it.