One guest on Shep Smith's Fox News show Thursday unleashed on Labor Secretary Alex Acosta for hurting Jeffrey Epstein's victims over and over again.
Former state attorney Bob Bianchi called it an "outrage" that Acosta would claim that he did everything he "could" do on the Epstein case when he was a U.S. Attorney in Florida.
"They have a 53-page indictment," he said. "Prosecutors live for cases like this, child exploitation, trafficking, not just from in the United States but from outside the country as well. [There are] 80 victims, 30 of whom are cooperating with the FBI. Do the math. These agents are doing thousands and thousands of work. They’re preparing a 53-page indictment doing what federal agents do, which is to go after this guy because he represents a continuing danger to other children."
He noted that everything changed after a meeting with Epstein that happened outside of the prosecutors' offices. He noted that it was right before Acosta was about to leave the office because the Obama administration was coming in and he would have been replaced.
"A nonprosecution agreement?!" Bianchi exclaimed. "I agree with the state’s attorney, who, by the way, shares blame for this. When I was a state attorney [they'd get] a 15-20-year plea offer. The feds have more power. They could hit him with more. They could have hit him with enticement. They could have hit him with all of those separate victims. They wouldn’t have lost this case probably based on the evidence that we know right now and he would have been spending the rest of his life in jail."
Smith wondered what the "real" conversation was that ultimately led to Epstein getting the slap on the wrist.
"There’s a quid pro quo here," Bianchi alleged. "The investigation ends. Who are the other victims? Who are the other people that need protection from the government? The investigation never goes anywhere after that investigation. The indictment never goes anywhere after this nonprosecution agreement. Then, they put in the agreement, the accomplices and unnamed conspirators are immune for prosecution?! Where have you heard such a thing?"
He noted that in the press conference after the decision he claimed that they were never going after the "small fish" just Epstein and that was why.
Smith noted that Acosta didn't have much to say for the victims in the case, who are now lamenting they never got justice.
"It’s insensitive. He victimized them a second time and then a third time," Bianchi closed.
Watch the full video below:
