A 2008 plea deal by a billionaire sex offender is coming back to haunt Trump's labor secretary pick — and Trump

Will there be yet another Puzder?
(Image credit: AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

In 2008, Alexander Acosta, then the top federal prosecutor in Miami, cut a deal with billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein in which Epstein pleaded guilty to a Florida charge of soliciting underage girls, earning a 13-month jail sentence, in return for immunity from federal prosecution for any offenses committed between 2001 and 2007. If Acosta had prosecuted him on federal charges tied to his alleged sexual abuse of more than 40 girls, mostly aged 13 to 17, he faced up to life in prison. Acosta, who is President Trump's second nominee for labor secretary, is now facing scrutiny in a civil case in Florida over Epstein's light sentence, and Trump is on the witness list.

Trump is just one of the famous people who palled around with Epstein before his fall from grace, partying at his Palm Beach mansion and flying off on his private jet to his private Caribbean estate. Former President Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Buffett, Michael Jackson, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair were among his other guests. (None, including Trump, has been accused of participating in Epstein's sexual misdeeds.) But Trump is on the witness list because, lawyers for Epstein's victims say, he might have useful information, as Epstein was apparently banned from Mar-a-Lago "because Epstein sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club." Lawyers involved with several Epstein cases tell The Washington Post there's almost no chance that Trump will actually be required to testify.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.