More than a dozen lawmakers are demanding that the Office of the Inspector General investigate how Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta helped broker a plea deal in 2007 for a millionaire accused of abusing dozens of young girls.
Signed by 15 lawmakers, including Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Al Lawson, the letter goes after Acosta for entering an “extremely preferential deal” for Jeffrey Epstein, the accused money manager whose list of powerful friends included President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
CNN first reported on the letter, which you can read below.
Epstein stood to face life imprisonment for trafficking minor girls for sex parties. But according to the details of the plea Acosta brokered, which were alleged in a bombshell report by the Miami Herald last week, the then-U.S. attorney secured Epstein a non-prosecution deal that required he serve just 13 months in county jail and plead guilty to two prostitution charges.
“The non-prosecution deal also had the effect of shutting down a Federal Bureau of Investigation examination of whether there were more victims and astonishingly granted immunity to potential co-conspirators,” the lawmakers’ letter continues.
The overall “lack of public transparency” about Acosta’s involvement in the case necessitates a review by the Inspector General, the letter argues.
Meanwhile, Trump is reportedly floating Acosta as a replacement for Jeff Sessions as attorney general.