Reporters Confront Labor Secretary Acosta Over Epstein Plea Deal: Do You Owe Victims an Apology?

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta fielded questions from the assembled press for a media event in which he defended his role in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 plea deal. Epstein was recently indicted by the Southern District of New York for sex trafficking charges, bringing his past criminal conduct, and prosecution by the former Miami-based US Attorney Acosta back into the spotlight.

After a roughly 10 minute statement in which Acosta defended his role, and ostensibly took credit for not allowing Epstein to walk free, he took questions from the press who pointedly asked about any contrition he might have.

ABC News’ Tom Llamas asked, “A lot of people are watching this news conference, including 7 young women who say they were teenagers when Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted them. They say they went to you, looking for help, and they didn’t hear back from you until it was too late. Do you owe them an apology?”

Acosta explained the challenge faced of revealing incriminating details by sharing detailed info of the victims with the defending lawyers. Referencing counsel with whom he was working who “did not want to share with the victims that the office was attempting to secure for them the ability to obtain monetary compensation, because she is aware that if she disclosed that, and the negotiations fell through, Epstein’s counsel would use this to discredit the victim’s credibility.”

Another reporter asked if he believes the evidence against Epstein “wouldn’t have been sufficient to secure conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Again, Acosta reasonably and dispassionately defended his role.

“There is a big gulf between sufficient evidence to go to trial and sufficient evidence to be confident in the outcome of that trial. I’ll give you a follow-up in a moment.” He then seemed to present hindsight, adding “But if I could, when this case, in July of 2007 the career staff from my office met and said these are the four points you will have to do in state court, if not, we will proceed federally. They were very serious that they would proceed federally.”

Another reporter hit the same note of seeking contrition, saying “Standing here today, are you basically saying that you feel you did everything you could, you got the best deal you could get, and you have no regrets?”

Acosta replied, “We believe we proceeded appropriately, not just the evidence but I shared the affidavit. Based on the evidence, there was value to getting a guilty plea and having him register.” He demurred somewhat, adding “No regrets is a very hard question. At my confirmation hearing, I was asked a similar question, and one of the issues that I raised is we expect a lot more transparency today. As you watch these victim interviews, it’s very obvious that the victims feel that this was not a sufficient outcome. These victims were traumatized.”

Watch above, via CNN.