Trump Says He’s ‘Looking’ at Acosta’s Plea Deal With Epstein

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said he’s examining a lenient 2008 plea deal that Labor Secretary and former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta struck with Jeffrey Epstein after the financier was indicted on Monday for sex crimes in Manhattan.

Trump told reporters that he’s “going to be looking at that and looking at it very closely” after he was asked about the plea agreement in a meeting on Tuesday with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. But the president also complimented Acosta’s work at the Labor Department and gave no indication that his departure is imminent.

“I can tell you that for two and a half years he’s been just an excellent secretary of labor,” Trump said. “He’s done a fantastic job.”

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy in an indictment unsealed on Monday, accused of using his wealth and power to sexually abuse dozens of young girls for years at one of the largest mansions in Manhattan.

Acosta applauded the new indictment and defended his 2008 plea deal with Epstein in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

Trump also distanced himself from Epstein. He called him “a fixture in Palm Beach,” where the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located, but said he hasn’t spoken to the financier in about 15 years.

“I was not a fan of his. That I can tell you,” he said. “So, I feel very badly, actually, for Secretary Acosta. Because I’ve known him as being somebody that works so hard and has done such a good job.”

Acosta’s standing in the administration was in peril even before Epstein’s arrest and indictment, people familiar with the matter said. Corporate lobbyists and some White House aides have been frustrated that Acosta hasn’t moved faster to unwind Obama-era policies, the people said. Acosta has clashed with other Trump political appointees; at one point in 2018, some senior staff at the Labor Department found that they had been locked out of his office and denied access to his calendar.

In May, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney seized control of rulemaking at the Labor Department, accelerating work on new rules on overtime pay, job training and workplace safety, according to current and former officials at the department.

Following Epstein’s indictment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer both called for Acosta to resign or be fired.

But White House adviser Kellyanne Conway repeatedly defended Acosta earlier on Tuesday. “Can we all agree who the perpetrator is here, who’s behind bars?” Conway said.

The Miami Herald last year published a series of articles on the 2008 plea deal Acosta struck with Epstein and his lawyers which allowed the financier, facing similar allegations of sexual misconduct, to serve about 13 months in a county jail. He could have spent the rest of his life in prison.

At the time, Acosta was the top federal prosecutor in southern Florida. He violated federal law when he failed to clear the non-prosecution agreement with many of Epstein’s alleged victims, a federal judge ruled in February. The Herald said it identified about 60 Epstein victims.

Acosta was nominated and sworn in as Labor secretary in 2017. He was a former National Labor Relations Board member and served as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division under President George W. Bushbefore becoming U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

One of Epstein’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten, said in court on Monday that Epstein believed he had a “global resolution” under the deal with Acosta. But prosecutors in Manhattan say they aren’t bound by the Florida agreement because that case didn’t include alleged victims outside of the state.

--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs and Saleha Mohsin.

To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net;Benjamin Penn in Arlington at bpenn5@bloomberg.net;Alyza Sebenius in Washington at asebenius@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum

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