‘This is a massive coverup’: MSNBC’s Morning Joe calls for Justice Dept probe of ‘child rapist’ Jeffrey Epstein

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough called for a new investigation into billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's predatory behavior -- and conduct by his rich and powerful friends.

The 65-year-old Epstein served only 13 months on prostitutions charges in a Florida county jail after reaching a secret plea agreement with then-federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta -- now President Donald Trump's secretary of labor.

"By the way, 14-year-old girls are not prostitutes, 14-year-old girls are sex slaves," Scarborough said. "The fact that a prosecutor in the United States of America, first of all, would try to give this guy a free ride by calling a 14-year-old girl who was his sex slave and who was raped by the laws of the state of Florida a, quote, prostitute, shows you the bad faith that this deal was done in."

Co-host Mika Brzezinski called the deal "poisonous" because was reached without input from the dozens of victims identified by investigators, and prevented their allegations from becoming public.

"The deal was done in secret, preventing Epstein's alleged victims from testifying at his sentencing," she said. "It also shut down the federal investigation concealing the extent of his alleged crimes, and it granted immunity to any potential co-conspirators."

A new lawsuit seeks to undo the controversial plea agreement as a violation of the federal Crime Victims Act -- and Scarborough said the entire case should be re-examined.

"This is a massive cover up," he said, "and the justice department needs to dig into it, the state of Florida needs to dig into it."

Epstein was friends with both Trump and former President Bill Clinton, along with other rich and powerful men such as Alan Dershowitz, and the co-hosts agreed the facts should come out.

"If #MeToo means anything, this goes down, this story comes out," Brzezinski said.

Co-host Willie Geist said Epstein's conduct was too egregious to be sugarcoated.

"This man has been described as a creep," Geist said. "No, he is a child rapist, let's be clear about what he has done here."