President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned.
Acosta’s resignation comes amid numerous calls from Democrats who wanted him to step down from his administration post in light of his involvement with a 2008 plea deal given to Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire who was recently arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The plea deal allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges if he pled guilty and served 13 months in jail.
BREAKING: President Trump and Labor Secretary Acosta just announced that Acosta is resigning effective 7 days from today.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 12, 2019
BREAKING —> @SecretaryAcosta is resigning, @realDonaldTrump tells reporters at WH. Trump said Acosta called him this morning and that it’s the secretary’s decision, per pooler @anniekarni
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) July 12, 2019
Acosta called the president on Friday morning and told him his decision to step down, according to a pool report. Trump added that Acosta was a “great” labor secretary.
Earlier this week Acosta defended himself on Twitter and in a press conference, where he was criticized for saying that “today’s world treats victims very, very differently” when asked if he’d make the same deal as the one struck more than a decade ago.
A number of prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-N.Y.) had called on Acosta to resign.
Epstein pled not guilty to trafficking charges earlier this week after he was arrested by authorities.
READ MORE:
- Trump’s labor secretary Alexander Acosta tweets through the backlash to his Epstein plea deal
- Trump’s labor secretary blames ‘a different world’ for Epstein deal in 2007
- Trump mixes up campaign kickoff, election night in bizarre Twitter thread
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