Alex Acosta Announces Resignation, But His Enabler Still Sits In The Oval Office
Congress Must Get To The Bottom Of Why Acosta Let Epstein Off The Hook
Washington D.C. – In the wake of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s announcing his resignation today, Allied Progress asked the question many Americans are asking: how did we possibly get to this point? When President Trump nominated Acosta for the job his plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein was public knowledge. Despite this clear injustice towards Epstein’s victims, the President saw fit to give Acosta even more responsibility for protecting the powerless against the powerful.
“Given Alex Acosta’s horrific record, he should never have been nominated or confirmed for President Trump’s cabinet in the first place,” said Derek Martin, director of consumer watchdog Allied Progress. “The fact that Acosta gave a wealthy, well-connected alleged child sex trafficker a sweetheart plea deal should have rendered him unfit to serve, but in Trump’s administration, it seems no ethical or moral failing is disqualifying. We continue to call on Congress to get to the bottom of Acosta’s sweetheart deal for Jeffrey Epstein, and who he may have been protecting.”
In February, the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announced its own investigation into Acosta’s misconduct in the Epstein case, however such an investigation is simply incapable of going far enough due to OPR’s lack of subpoena power, its inability to issue binding disciplinary recommendations and its reputation of secrecy with regard to its probes. Acosta’s illegal plea deal was conducted in secret; the investigation into why should not also be conducted out of the public view. That’s why Allied Progress has called on Congress to step up and fully bring to light the facts of how and why this happened.
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