Acosta tries to calm furor around his handling of Epstein plea deal – POLITICO

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta delivered his most vigorous defense yet of his handling of a 2008 plea deal with billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, claiming the media is overlooking critical facts about the case and that abuse victims are now treated differently.

In a news conference carried widely by cable news on Wednesday, the embattled official said he welcomed New York prosecutors’ new charges that accuse Epstein of sex trafficking young women and underage girls.

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And in defending his prior prosecutor office’s plea deal that allowed Epstein to only serve 13 months behind bars — much of it on work release — Acosta framed the decision as a more reliable outcome that prevented Epstein from walking free and also shielded his victims.

Referring to “hard to watch” victim interviews, Acosta cited an affidavit from one of the prosecutors in his office at the time that questioned the wisdom of putting Epstein’s victims on the witness stand based on now-outdated norms concerning the treatment of accusers.

“She talks about the victims being scared and traumatized… refusing to testify, and how some victims actually exonerated Epstein. Most had significant concerns about their identities being revealed. The acts that they had faced were horrible and they didn’t want people to know about them,” Acosta explained.

He said that the prosecutor went on to write that “‘after the fact people allege that Epstein would have been easily convicted. As the prosecutor who handled the investigation … these contentions overlook the facts that existed at the time.’”

It’s unclear if Acosta’s extended news conference will help calm the furor around his past decisions as a prosecutor. President Donald Trump and his aides have expressed confidence in the Cabinet secretary, and Acosta himself said on Wednesday he is on good terms with the president.

“My relationship with the president is outstanding,” Acosta said. “He has very publicly made clear that I’ve got his support. He spoke yesterday in the Oval Office, he and I have spoken.”

But a growing number of Democrats are calling for his resignation, and more victims are coming forward to talk about Epstein’s abuse over the years.

At the news conference on Wednesday, Acosta asserted that the current environment is much more favorable to victims of abuse than it was more than a decade ago.

“Today we know a lot more about how victims’ trauma impacts their testimony,” he said. “Our juries are more accepting of contradictory statements, understanding that trauma-impacted memories work differently. And today our judges do not allow victim shaming by defense attorneys.”

“Without the work of our prosecutors, Epstein would have gotten away with just that state charge,” Acosta said. “Now many today question the terms of that ultimatum, what’s called a non-prosecution agreement. A good prosecutor will tell you these cases are complex. Especially when they involve children. And even more so in 2006.”

He defended the leniency of the agreement, asserting that to bring Epstein to trial would have amounted to a “roll of the dice” and that had his office not intervened, Epstein would have served no jail time.

“The goal here was straightforward: Put Epstein behind bars, ensure he registered as a sexual offender, provide victims with the means to seek restitution, and protect the public by putting them on notice that a sexual predator was in their midst,” he argued.

The Labor secretary was unequivocal in his condemnation of Epstein, saying that his crimes “absolutely deserve a stiffer sentence.”

“He’s a bad man and he needs to be put away,” Acosta later added.

The press-shy Labor secretary has stayed mostly silent in recent days as federal prosecutors in New York filed new charges against Epstein for allegedly sexually abusing underage girls.

But he came out swinging against the press on Wednesday, repeatedly referencing public documents he implied were being omitted from reporting about the case. Noting he’d supplied the reporters in the room with those documents, he said that “one of the really disturbing things about this case is, there’s a record here.”

“The documents that I shared today, we’ve shared previously with media,” he said, “yet I’ve seen no reference to any of these documents in the perspective of some of these prosecutors. There’s a record, all of these documents are publicly available and could have been pulled up by anyone in the room.”

Earlier in the news conference, he mused that he found it “interesting … how facts become facts because they’re in a newspaper as opposed to the record.”

His forceful defense amounted to a “Kavanaugh 2.0″ rebuttal in an effort to impress Trump, according to a former administration official familiar with the matter. The strategy is also an effort to push back against acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and other White House officials who believe he hasn’t moved swiftly enough on deregulation.

“Acosta’s usual strategy with terrible press is to just stay quiet,” the official said. “This shows just how desperate he is becoming to save his job.”

Acosta pushed back on reports that his job is on the line and that Mulvaney was maneuvering for his ouster, passing along Mulvaney’s message of support and saying such reports are “BS.”

Trump encouraged Acosta to hold the news conference, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that the president “wants to get the truth out.” Acosta wouldn’t say whether that was true, but denied to reporters that his voluntary grilling, which lasted for nearly an hour, was meant “to send any signal to the president.”

Acosta’s appearance comes the same day that House Oversight Democrats asked Acosta to appear before the committee on July 23. In a letter, Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told Acosta his testimony is “even more critical” given the new indictment in New York. Hours before, a new accuser had come forward alleging Epstein raped her in his Manhattan apartment in 2002.

This week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Acosta to step down.

“It is now impossible for anyone to have confidence in Secretary Acosta’s ability to lead the Department of Labor,” Schumer said Tuesday in a speech on the Senate floor. “If he refuses to resign, President Trump should fire him.”

Acosta said on Tuesday that he supported the New York prosecutors’ decision even as he defended the earlier plea agreement. He has argued that the Epstein case was handed to him after a state grand jury recommended an even lesser charge, and has said the decision to grant Epstein daily furloughs to his office was made after the plea deal by the state of Florida.

“With the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted that Epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender, and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator,” Acosta tweeted. “Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.”

Senate Republican leaders said they were unaware of any new movement on Acosta ahead of the news conference, and while they continued to stick with the embattled secretary, they also deferred to Trump on his future.

“That’s entirely up to the president,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).

Burgess Everett and Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.