U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), photo by Gage Skidmore.
A cadre of former federal prosecutors are outraged at the "sweetheart" legal deal that accused child molester Jeffrey Epstein scored from Labor Secretary Alex Acosta when he was a U.S. Attorney.
Had Acosta not gotten a lesser charge in his plea deal there would have been a significant sentence in federal prison. Instead, Epstein spent less than 10 hours a day 6 days a week in a county holding cell.
You can see the comments from federal prosecutors below:
Acosta's comments assume there was an arbitrary time point where they had to cut off the investigation. That's not… https://t.co/bFg4yQLCWd— Joyce Alene (@Joyce Alene) 1562783956.0
Acosta's suggestion that his obligation to protect victims was somehow different 12 years ago, because of changing… https://t.co/pkSNwhixHx— Joyce Alene (@Joyce Alene) 1562785504.0
Acosta summary: FL was going to give a bad plea & I was the hero who swept in & gave him a slightly less bad plea b… https://t.co/vtPVyTh07T— Mimi Rocah (@Mimi Rocah) 1562786643.0
I was a federal prosecutor 12 years ago. No one I worked with thought victim shaming was ok then @SecretaryAcosta.— Mimi Rocah (@Mimi Rocah) 1562785405.0
Barbara McQuade: "I am normally very reluctant to second guess any prosecutor who had to deal w/ complicated facts… https://t.co/6Y1NFAgplv— Kyle Griffin (@Kyle Griffin) 1562787900.0
Why is Acosta making public comments discussing the specifics of victim's communications with law enforcement while… https://t.co/jlJZNlWluU— Renato Mariotti (@Renato Mariotti) 1562786284.0
Comments like this will be used by Epstein's defense team to argue that he has been prejudiced. https://t.co/oqx8Xkr8aY— Renato Mariotti (@Renato Mariotti) 1562786460.0
Somebody at the presser please ask @SecretaryAcosta why he immunized the co-conspirators around Epstein.— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1562785168.0
-- Calls his non-prosecution of Epstein an "ultimatum." Tough talk for a (nearly) free walk.— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1562784190.0
Epstein paying for the attorneys who represented his victims strikes me as NOT a good point for @SecretaryAcosta to… https://t.co/KuM3hHuinr— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1562785016.0
None of this jibberish from @SecretaryAcosta remotely addresses his failure to notify victims.— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1562784393.0
-- Blames societal norms of victim-blaming back in 2007. Bogus. Victim-blaming only works if the prosecutor buys in… https://t.co/rzs2rRU6yc— Elie Honig (@Elie Honig) 1562784191.0
