Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta’s decision to resign Friday because of the renewed uproar over his handling of a case involving pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein while Acosta was U.S. attorney in Miami a dozen years ago should be welcomed by those who care about fairness in the justice system.
By now, it’s abundantly clear that Acosta was not being persecuted for being part of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. To recap: Epstein was credibly accused of abusing more than 30 underage victims, and a federal judge concluded that Acosta broke the law when he failed to notify Epstein’s victims of the deal Acosta had cut under which Epstein served 13 months in a county jail in a work-release program.
The Miami Herald reported in November it had located about 60 victims of Epstein’s, and reported 12 new victims came forward following his arrest last Saturday on sex-trafficking charges. It’s beyond time to let Acosta slink off and to have federal prosecutors make their case against Epstein.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune