Donald Trump gave a limp defense on Friday to accusations that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta broke federal law when he was a prosecutor by signing a plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein.
The former hedge fund manager recruited underage girls in Florida and from overseas to work in an international sex ring.
Although Epstein was convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, he only served about a year because of a lenient deal that Acosta, the federal prosecutor overseeing the case at the time, made privately with Epstein’s attorney in 2007.
As part of the deal, the future Trump appointee agreed to keep the arrangement from Epstein’s victims.
Now, Acosta is coming under fire for the deal, but not, apparently, from the president himself, based on comments he made to reporters on Friday, according to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I really don’t know too much about it. I know he’s done a great job as labor secretary and that seems like a long time ago,” Trump said.
The collective reaction of many Twitter users seemed to be, “Same B.S., different day.”
Others figured Trump had a reason for keeping mum about the scandal.
Many people had a big problem with Trump’s use of the phrase “seems like a long time ago,” especially since he has claimed one of his reasons for wanting to build a border wall is to stop human sex trafficking, which he claimed last April was “worse than it’s ever been in the history of the world.”
Some Twitter users pointed out Trump’s close relationship with Epstein.
Some noticed the president’s comments fit a pattern...
Others pointed out that the president didn’t think the following incidents should be ignored because they also happened a long time ago.
Meanwhile, Patton Oswalt couldn’t help but comment that the Acosta allegations are just one-third of a sex scandal hat trick.
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