The list, by now, is all too familiar—Price, Pruitt, Mnuchin, Ross, Zinke. The Trump Cabinet: a true confederacy of dunces.
But now, with current Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, we enter a new realm: according to a Florida federal judge, Acosta broke the law. How? Prosecutors, led by then-Miami U.S. Attorney Acosta, in 2008 signed a non-prosecution agreement with one Jeffrey Epstein, accused of having sex with dozens of underage girls; the prosecutors deliberately failed to notify the victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse.
VoxFairfax was on top of this news. In December, we added this to our A to Z Snarky Political Definitions:
Acostacision: covert plea deal struck for wealthy pedophile.
Epstein, a friend of Presidents Trump and Clinton, was allowed to plead guilty to state charges only, involving a single victim, pay financial settlements to other victims, and register as a sex offender. He wound up serving 13 months in a Palm Beach jail, where he was allowed to leave almost daily through a work-release program and to have his own private security detail. He could have faced up to life behind bars had he been convicted of the charges in the shelved federal complaint.
The judge did not set any consequences for Epstein or Acosta, but asked both sides to come back in 15 days with recommendations for further action. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice initiated an investigation into the matter.
Join the discussion!