Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns
[Headline from DRJ]
CNBC — Trump’s Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns amid pressure from Jeffrey Epstein sex traffic case:
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta said Friday he will resign amid controversy over the way he handled a sex crimes case against wealthy businessman Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago when he was U.S. attorney for southern Florida.
Acosta made the announcement to reporters while standing next to President Donald Trump outside the White House. Trump said that Acosta had called him Friday morning, and that it was Acosta’s decision to quit.
“This was him, not me,” Trump said in a lengthy exchange with the press before departing the White House en route to events in Wisconsin and Ohio.
— DRJ
At least Acosta has enough integrity to realize how untenable this is for him and the Trump administration.
But jeez… who’s left in the Trump Cabinets that actually have been confirmed?
whembly (51f28e) — 7/12/2019 @ 7:55 amAnother Booosh appointee out of the loop.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2019 @ 8:06 amSo the guy who used to party with Epstein and thought he was “terrific” fired the guy who cut him a deal. Seems about right.
JRH (4210ba) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:02 amI must say I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Epstein seems to have gotten a sweetheart deal for a child molestor. OTOH, other prosecuting authorities in Florida and NY did even less. At least Acosta got one (minor) conviction and got him on the sex registry. What did the NY DA get? (In fact, I read somewhere that the NY DA tried to undo his sex registry after the fact.)
So I suspect we do not know the full context here.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:05 amBored Lawyer, what do you think of the questions Popehat has been posting on twitter?
Time123 (c9382b) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:06 amBored Lawyer, what do you think of the questions Popehat has been posting on twitter?
I don’t follow Twitter as a matter of principle. It is bad for the republic, IMO.
But feel free to post some of the questions here.
Just to be clear, I am not justifying (nor condemning) what Acosta did. Something here stinks. It is just that the reality is that the guy was being pursued by three different offices, for something quite heinous, and yet Acosta’s was the only one that did anything, albeit little. So I would like a full explanation.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:12 amJust another sign of the times. Now maybe the focus can be put on Epstein.
Colonel Haiku (f0a63f) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:15 amhttps://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2019/07/12/epstein-floodgates-open-dozen-women-come-forward-new-allegations/
Colonel Haiku (f0a63f) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:18 amOne thing popehat mentioned that is of concern is the amount of nonprosecution agreement of co-conspirators.
Is that something normal in a settlement plea deal?
whembly (fd57f6) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:48 amMeanwhile his deputy long Time labor veteran, pizzella worked with abramoff
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:03 amTrump should never have appointed him, Acosta should never have accepted the appointment, and Congress should never have confirmed him. All three parties are at fault. What Acosta did was prosecutorial malpractice, especially when it involved a billionaire pedophile sexual predator.
Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:06 amI don’t think it is in sexual assault cases. It sounds like protecting VIPs.
DRJ (15874d) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:06 amwhy no fuss oner the tax-payer funded slush fund for pervert congress critters?
mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:09 amover
mg (8cbc69) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:09 amIf I were a conspiracy theory person, I might think Epstein had evidence about another person or persons that no one in government wanted to expose. Clinton comes to mind but I think a certain Prince is more likely.
DRJ (15874d) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:09 amUntil relatively recently in Illinois, it was a defense to felony statutory (consensual but underage) rape of a child above the age of 13 that the child was a prostitute, but not to misdemeanor statutory rape, punishable by less than one year.
nk (dbc370) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:18 amWe’re talking very powerful people, all over the world, who dealt with him professionally and socially (let us just say) one us atty can say I’m going to go ahead.
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:26 amTime to start over:
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:45 amhttps://www.foxnews.com/us/federal-judge-overseeing-key-lawsuit-relating-to-pedophile-jeffrey-epstein-dies?fbclid=IwAR2RaewxxKHSbukH5ji1CXCdwZX-s39gbD_1L_wt1QOFXqa0p00Bs4U5fu4
This episode of ‘Combat!’:
“Minefield”
Guest star: Alex Acosta.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:56 amI can certainly see Bill Clinton… as, at the time of the settlement his wife was running for President.
But foreign dignitaries? Why “cover” for them?
whembly (51f28e) — 7/12/2019 @ 11:01 amBut foreign dignitaries? Why “cover” for them?
The British royal family was at a fairly low point in popularity at that time, in the wake of Princess Diana’s death and Andrew’s divorce from Sarah Ferguson, and in the middle of the rather drawnout runup to Prince Charles marrying Camilla. So anyone sympathetic to the Royal Family might have tried to make sure that not another royal scandal would be unleashed.
But I suspect that protecting the Clintons and other American high and mighties would be enough motive.
kishnevi (496414) — 7/12/2019 @ 11:26 amnarciso @18
He died Sunday, March 24, 2019, at the age of 96, and was presiding over a lawsuit “leveled by one of Epstein’s alleged victims against one of his longtime friends.”
He died while on vacation at his (retirement?) home in Ketchum, Idaho, New York ((Senior) Federal District Robert W. Sweet was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
Sammy Finkelman (8b217f) — 7/12/2019 @ 11:40 amshe’s still a lizard,
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/chicago-mayor-blocks-ice-access-to-police-databases-ahead-of-
narciso (d1f714) — 7/12/2019 @ 12:26 pmraids/ar-AAEer1n?ocid=spartandhp
No, he didn’t. Acosta got zero convictions, in June 2008 Epstein pleaded guilty to a single state charge of soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 7/12/2019 @ 2:21 pm11,agreed, but some people couldn’t stomach CA Mex RINO Abel Maldonado as Ag Secretary, thus that slot had to be filled in another way
urbanleftbehind (b6d697) — 7/12/2019 @ 2:58 pm15. DRJ (15874d) — 7/12/2019 @ 10:09 am
No, first of all, not everyone in government wold be part of the conspiracy. It would be a person here, a person there, who would be able to affect or control what some other persons in government did. And most of them would be lawyers. And there would be no clear path to getting what he wanted – it would be more like finding his way through a maze.
He would need to find many many connections. There might be a big one, who led to many connections, like maybe Bill Clinton. And whatever hold he had would have to matter to people who made the decisions that could impact him.
Sammy Finkelman (19c914) — 7/12/2019 @ 3:13 pm24. Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 7/12/2019 @ 2:21 pm
Acosta forced the Palam Beach State Attorney to charge him with something that led to jail and registering as a sex offender, by threatening to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein federally if that minimum was not agreed to.
And Epstein had Kenneth Starr (whom he had hired) going to Main Justice to try to call him off,, so he had to justify what he was doing.
Sammy Finkelman (19c914) — 7/12/2019 @ 3:17 pmHe “forced” him, sure.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 7/12/2019 @ 3:29 pm