Tuesday on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for Trump administration Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to resign over the “sweetheart” plea deal he gave billionaire Jeffrey Epstein on child sex trafficking charges in 2008 when he was an attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Schumer said, “This week billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was indicted in New York on federal sex trafficking charges. The newly released evidence of Epstein’s behavior involving dozens of children is sickening, is appalling, is despicable. Epstein should have been behind bars years ago, but unfortunately, Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta cut Epstein a sweetheart deal while Acosta was a U.S. attorney in Florida in 2008.”
He continued, “I am calling on secretary Acosta to resign. It is now impossible for anyone to have confidence in secretary Acosta’s ability to lead the department of labor. If he refuses to resign, President Trump should fire him. Instead of prosecuting a predator and serial sex trafficker of children, Acosta chose to let him off easy. This is not acceptable. We cannot have as one of the leading appointed officials in America, someone who has done this, plain and simple.”
He added, “I am calling on the Department of Justice’s office of professional responsibility to make public the results of its review of Acosta’s handling of the Epstein case.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.