Report: Mulvaney wants Trump to give Acosta the boot

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 10 July 2019

Top Democrats and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney all want Labor Secretary Alex Acosta out — but for different reasons.

In 2008, investigators in Florida found evidence that financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused dozens of underage girls. Acosta, then a federal prosecutor, cut a deal with Epstein that allowed him to plead guilty to a charge of soliciting prostitution, serving minimal time in prison. Over the weekend, Epstein was arrested and accused of operating a sex trafficking ring, bringing renewed attention to the 2008 agreement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both called on Acosta to resign, and at the White House, Mulvaney has been pushing Trump to dump the secretary, Politico reports. Mulvaney has told Trump Acosta is hurting the administration, but Mulvaney hasn't been a fan for awhile; people with knowledge of the matter told Politico Mulvaney and other conservatives have long complained that Acosta isn't doing enough to roll back Obama-era workplace regulations or tackle employment discrimination lawsuits, and they want him out for this reason.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.