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Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is resigning
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is out.
Acosta will step down by the end of next week, President Trump announced Friday. Trump and Acosta, who spoke with reporters about the exit, said it was Acosta's decision; Acosta said "I do not think it is right or fair" to draw focus to himself amid the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, reports Bloomberg. "I thought the right thing was to step aside."
The Labor Secretary has drawn scrutiny for his handling of Epstein's plea deal over a decade ago — Epstein was convicted of sexually abusing underage girls, and critics say Acosta played a major role as a Florida prosecutor in giving him a relatively light sentence for the crime. At a press conference this week, Acosta defended his handling of the case, including his decision to negotiate a non-prosecution agreement without keeping the victims informed, which a federal judge said was a violation of the law. Over the weekend, Epstein was arrested on new sex trafficking charges.
Though Acosta said earlier this week that he believes he handled the case appropriately, Trump was reportedly not pleased with his performance in the press conference and lost faith in his ability to move past the controversy.
While his resignation may be a surprise to some, at least Fox News' Andrew Napolitano can say "I told you so."