We may yet find out exactly why Trump appointed Alexander Acosta, the former South Florida U.S. Attorney who signed off on the plea deal of pedophile sex slaver Jeffery Epstein as his Labor Secretary overseeing anti-human trafficking efforts.
From Bloomberg Law:
Labor Secretary’s Role in Abuse Deal Could Get DOJ Scrutiny
Posted Jan. 29, 2019, 1:46 PM Updated Jan. 29, 2019, 2:42 PM
- Labor secretary was prosecutor in Jeffrey Epstein case
- Bipartisan group has called for some kind of probe
The Justice Department’s inspector general wants lawmakers to give him the authority to investigate a decade-old plea deal in which Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta allegedly allowed an accused sex offender to skirt the harshest punishment for crimes against teens.
“Your letter raises important questions about the resolution of this case by department attorneys,” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a Jan. 29 letter to lawmakers. “However, the OIG does not currently have jurisdiction over matters involving allegations of misconduct relating to DOJ attorneys’ handling of litigation or legal decisions.”
The department’s watchdog responded to lawmakers’ calls to look into an agreement that Acosta—then a federal prosecutor in South Florida—reached with lawyers for Miami hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, which allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in prison on lesser charges.
Horowitz called on the Senate to take up a bill (H.R. 202) recently passed by the House. He said that legislation would give him the authority to investigate alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
A November Miami Herald report on the Epstein case has renewed public attention to the allegations against Epstein, who was accused of running a teen sex ring out of his Florida home. It’s also brought new criticism to Acosta, who as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is said to have helped orchestrate the agreement.
Epstein’s all star legal defense team included Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz, former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and famed criminal defense attorney Roy Black.
The Labor Department declined Bloomberg Law’s request for comment. A DOL spokeswoman on Jan. 15 told Bloomberg Law that Acosta acted appropriately.
“For more than a decade, this prosecution has been reviewed in great detail by newspaper articles, television reports, books, and Congressional testimony,” the spokeswoman said. “Department of Justice leadership, likewise, reviewed the matter at the time, and the Department has continued to defend the Southern District of Florida’s actions across three administrations and several attorneys general on the grounds that the actions taken were in accordance with Department practices, procedures, and the law.”
Acosta was rumored to be on a short list of potential replacements for Jeff Sessions as the U.S. Attorney General before the Herald story was published. The former Justice Department civil rights chief and National Labor Relations Board member is also widely believed to be interested in a federal judge seat.
The renewed attention to the Epstein case and possible DOJ investigation may put that goal on the back burner.
Acosta in a 2011 letter obtained by the Daily Beast said he was brought into the case because local police officers were concerned that state prosecutors would let Epstein off easy. He said the deal was reached after Epstein’s lawyers launched “a year-long assault on the prosecution and the prosecutors” that was “more aggressive than which I, or any of the prosecutors in my office, had previously encountered.”
The House Jan. 15 passed by voice vote the Inspector General Access Act, which would move DOJ prosecutor misconduct probes to the inspector general from the Office of Professional Responsibility. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose panel would likely get first crack at the bill, recently joined Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) in urging Attorney general nominee William Barr to conduct a “full and thorough” investigation of the Epstein case if confirmed for the post.
A Graham spokesman didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment.
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think- ago
When you take into account that Jeffrey Epstein is very likely a Mossad and / or CIA asset, it is likely that they had dirt on Acosta and blackmailed him (speculation).
Are_we_sure ago
Why do you think this is very likely?
think- ago
No pizza with James and David tonight, AWS? :-)
Are_we_sure ago
does this feel actually clever to you? Like do you think this actually involves any wit?
Or you don't care as long as it feeds your delusions?
think- ago
You know what's strange, AWS? You've been here for two years (or even longer), and I can't seem to remember that you ever expressed any disgust when reading info about crimes committed by convicted pedophiles or pedophilia in general. Why's that?
@EricKaliberhall @darkknight111 @srayzie @Shizy @MolochHunter
Are_we_sure ago
Because this forum doesn't actually care about that as an issue unless it can connected to some conspiratorial worldview. It fact it often attacks the people trying to address it. And pedophilia was not something I discovered in 2016.
MolochHunter ago
and yet you still seem incapable of expressing concern whenever we come across plumes of smoke which may or may not indicate a fire
if yu have empathy for the victims, I've yet to see it. You only seem to have empathy for those you believe to be 'wrongly accused' - even when those suspects act in a manner that is the opposite of forthright and accountable
i.e. if Alefantis is innocent, why doesnt he come out and explain his instagram account even just as a perverse sense of humor - if thats what it is?
if Podesta is innocent, why DOESNT he explain what a pizza related map is, or his maintained friendship with Hastert, or a score of other troublesome hints
Why are you so damnably incurious who joined Epstein on his island?
Why would you say there's nothing to the Silsby case, when she was turned way from the border with 30 kids just 2 days before the attempt where she got arrested? and when her lawyer (and his wife) is also wanted for human trafficking?
do you think there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to pizzagate? To what extent do you think there is something going on?
Are_we_sure ago
I say there's nothing to the CLAIM that Clinton knew Silsby or helped Silsby and I proven my correct to be true. The CLAIM is based on document retrieved after Silsby got arrested, but the CLAIM says it shows Clinton followed Silsby for years which is completely false. The Silsby case is the single crime attached to pizzagate and it completely falls upon inspection. I also think that this false claim was a DELIBERATELY FALSE CLAIM. I don't know how it could be otherwise, it's so obvious the document is from after the earthquake and not from 2001. I have also shown the claims to connect Silsby to Alefantis are completely false
That guy Jorge Puello, was not her lawyer or any lawyer of any kind. There's no indication he spoke with her before inserting himself in the case. He spoke with the families of some of the Baptists back in the US. Given that he was not a lawyer, didn't speak Haitian creole, he could not be their lawyer in Haiti. I think Puello was running some kind of grift. He might have recognized her as a grifter and figured he could make some money. I dunno what he was thinking, because it was an exceptionally stupid plan. He basically turned the families against the Haitian lawyer who was actually representing the Baptists in court, possibly trying to keep the money for legal fees for himself.
How does this change the case for you? It's basically the same caper she got arrested for.