Lawyers representing survivors of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein are calling on the Justice Department to reopen the investigation into his child sex trafficking ring — as Florida lawmakers urge Donald Trump's Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign for his role in the scandal.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that attorneys Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, the lawyers for two Epstein victims, formally demanded in a letter to the Southern District of Florida that "the government vacate Epstein’s plea deal, void his federal immunity and reopen his sex trafficking investigation."
The move comes after U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra of Palm Beach ruled last week that Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney in Miami, broke the law when brokering a plea deal that granted Epstein immunity.
In his opinion, which also enumerated the billionaire pedophile's sex crimes in detail, the federal judge also said Acosta illegally concealed the plea deal from "more than 30 of [Epstein's] underage victims."
The deal "gave Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity from federal prosecution" and saved him from prosecution under federal sex trafficking laws, the Herald reported last week.
“Acosta agreed to seal the deal,” the Herald report from last week noted, “which meant that none of Epstein’s victims, who were mostly 13 to 16 years old at the time of the abuse, were told about it until it was too late for them to appear at his sentencing and possibly reject the deal.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) called Epstein a "monster" in a statement released after Marra's ruling — and went on to call for the DOJ to reopen the investigation.
Since Marra's ruling last week, lawmakers have been calling on Acosta to be investigated or resign for his role in Epstein's plea deal.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the former governor of Florida, told the New York Times on Monday that he wants to know "all the facts" about the case.
"We need to know what happened," Scott said.
On Monday, a group of 19 House Democrat signed a letter addressed to Trump in which they asked the president to secure Acosta's resignation.
