Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said on Monday that Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, must go in light of new sex trafficking charges against Trump buddy Jeffrey Epstein.
As it was reported earlier, “[P]rosecutors accused [Epstein] of luring dozens of girls as young as 14 to his luxury homes in New York and Florida and paying them for sex acts.”
As Sen. Kaine pointed out in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Acosta helped craft an “illegal” plea deal for Epstein back in 2008, which allowed the sexual predator to spend time at his office during a measly 13-month prison sentence.
The Virginia Democrat said it’s a positive development that “Epstein might finally get justice” for his sex crimes, but he added that Monday’s indictment shows that “Epstein’s a predator and Acosta cut a secret, illegal sweetheart, outrageous deal and he shouldn’t hold the job that he currently holds.”
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“He needs to go as secretary of labor,” Kaine added.
Video:
.@timkaine says that Trump’s labor secretary must go in light of sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/P3P6iZQwNI
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) July 9, 2019
Sen. Tim Kaine said:
I am glad that it looks like Epstein might finally get justice for his victimization of so many young girls because the sweetheart deal that Secretary Acosta cut for him when he was U.S. Attorney in Miami really allowed him to evade justice. So it looks like somebody’s final taking this case seriously. I am on the committee that interviewed at the hearing Secretary Acosta for his position, his answers about this deal did not add up then. I voted against him for that reason. And subsequent events, both the federal court ruling in Miami in February and the indictment today show that Epstein’s a predator and Acosta cut a secret, illegal sweetheart, outrageous deal and he shouldn’t hold the job that he currently holds. He needs to go as secretary of labor.
Meanwhile, another Trump rape accusation is resurfacing
The disturbing Epstein news has also brought to light a related rape accusation made against – who else? – the president of the United States.
As Newsweek reported in 2017, “In 1994, Trump went to a party with Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire who was a notorious registered sex offender, and raped a 13-year-old girl that night in what was a ‘savage sexual attack,’ according to a lawsuit filed in June 2016 by ‘Jane Doe.’ The account was corroborated by a witness in the suit, who claimed to have watched as the child performed various sexual acts on Trump and Epstein even after the two were advised she was a minor.”
The Epstein news has also brought to light a quote from – who else? – Donald Trump, who praised his fellow sexual predator’s taste in women during a 2002 interview with New York magazine.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump said at the time. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Yes, Alex Acosta should certainly be removed from his post as labor secretary, particularly since part of his job is to oversee sex trafficking.
But the president’s personal connections to and praise of Epstein – not to mention Trump’s own history as a sexual predator – only remind us that he, too, has no business holding his office as president.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
