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Reuters

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta has resigned, believing that he has become a distraction to the administration because of his handling of the sex abuse case against financier Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago.
Acosta joined Trump on the White House lawn as the president announced the resignation and Trump praised him as a “great, great” labour secretary.
Trump announced Acosta’s departure to reporters as he left the White House on Friday on a trip to Wisconsin.
Trump said Acosta initiated the resignation by calling him on Friday morning and saying he felt he had become a distraction to the administration.
‘I was terrified’: Epstein accused of building network of victims
Trump named Deputy Labour Secretary Patrick Pizzella as the acting secretary of labour.
Acosta has served in Trump’s cabinet since April 2017 and from 2005 through 2009 was the US lawyer for the Southern District of Florida. It was there that he handled Epstein’s first case involving sex with girls, which resulted in a punishment that critics say was far too lenient.

Epstein, a billionaire hedge fund manager, pleaded not guilty to new federal charges in New York this week. Epstein had a social circle that over the years has included Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had called on Tuesday for Acosta to resign.
Acosta had responded to the criticism on Tuesday by saying on Twitter that Epstein’s crimes were “horrific” and that he was glad prosecutors were moving forward based on new evidence and testimony that could “more fully bring him to justice.”
On Wednesday, Acosta held a news conference to defend his handling of the deal, which allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a state charge and not face federal prosecution. Acosta said Epstein would have had an even lighter sentence if not for the deal.

US prosecutors in New York on Monday accused Epstein, 66, of sex trafficking, luring dozens of girls, some as young as 14, to his luxury homes and coercing them into sex acts.
Trump on Tuesday called Acosta an “excellent” labour secretary while saying that many people were involved in decisions on Epstein’s case and that the matter was being reviewed.
The federal prosecutors in New York said they were not bound by the deal arranged by Acosta, which allowed Epstein to plead to a lesser offence and serve 13 months in jail with leave during the day while registering as a sex offender.
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein asks to be freed on bail
In February, a federal judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, ruled that the 2007 agreement violated the victims’ rights. Epstein’s case and Acosta’s role in the plea deal had come under scrutiny earlier this year after an investigation by The Miami Herald.
Acosta is the latest top Trump administration official to depart under a cloud. The heads of the interior, justice, state and health departments have also either been fired or resigned, among other top staff during Trump tenure so far.
Acosta, the son of Cuban refugees and the first Hispanic member of Trump’s cabinet, previously served on the National Labour Relations Board and in the US Department of Justice under Republican President George W. Bush.


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Donald Trump

US Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta resigns amid row over Jeffrey Epstein plea deal

US President Donald Trump announces the resignation of Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta (R) in Washington. Photo: Reuters

REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS IMAGE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY, AN UNPROCESSED VERSION HAS BEEN PROVIDED SEPARATELY.

US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with US Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta during a media address early July 12, 2019 at the White House in Washington, DC. - Alex Acosta announced his resignation as US labor secretary Friday, amid criticism of a secret plea deal he negotiated a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier accused of sexually abusing young girls. "I called the president this morning and told him that I thought the right thing was to step aside," Acosta said in a joint appearance with President Donald Trump at the White House. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

‘I was terrified’: Jeffrey Epstein accused of building a network of victims

Jeffrey Epstein is facing sex trafficking charges following his arrest. Photo: AP

A group of young protesters holds pictures of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump outside the Federal Court in downtown Manhattan on July 8, 2019, where Jeffrey Epstein the wealth money manager who was arrested on Saturday was being charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/TNS)

In this courtroom artist's sketch, defendant Jeffrey Epstein, center, sits with attorneys Martin Weinberg, left, and Marc Fernich during his arraignment in New York federal court, Monday, July 8, 2019. Epstein pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges. The 66-year-old is accused of creating and maintaining a network that allowed him to sexually exploit and abuse dozens of underage girls from 2002 to 2005. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein asks to be freed on bail, offers to ground private plane and pay for armed guards

US fund manager Jeffrey Epstein in a photograph taken for the sex offender registry in March 2017. Photo: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters

This Tuesday, July 9, 2019 photo shows a structure on Little Saint James Island, in the U. S. Virgin Islands. Locals recalled seeing Jeffery Epstein's black helicopter flying back and forth from the international airport in St. Thomas to his helipad on Little St. James Island, where he built a cream colored mansion with a bright turquoise roof surrounded by several other structures including the maids' quarters and a massive, square-shaped white building on one end of the island that some say is a music room fitted with acoustic walls. (AP Photo/Gianfranco Gaglione)

epaselect epa07708773 US Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta speaks at a news conference at the Department of Labor in Washington, DC, USA, 10 July 2019. Acosta has come under fire for his role in a plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein in 2008. Epstein was recently arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

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Trump said Acosta initiated the resignation, saying he felt he had become a distraction to the administration
Acosta, who served as the US lawyer for the Southern District of Florida, handled Epstein’s first case involving sex with girls


Trump said Acosta initiated the resignation, saying he felt he had become a distraction to the administration.


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