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Breaking: Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta Resigns


Stop the presses!  This morning, President Donald Trump announced that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta was resigning and would formally step down next week.  The announcement was made on the White House South Lawn this morning in which both President Trump and Secretary Acosta appeared.  Secretary Acosta was the first Labor Secretary under President Trump and had served in the role since 2017.

Readers might be wondering why Secretary Acosta is resigning after a relatively smooth past few years at the Department of Labor.  For those unaware, Secretary Acosta had been a bit embattled in recent months over a 2008 plea deal he negotiated with Jeffrey Epstein while Acosta served as a US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  The plea deal was a non-prosecutorial agreement whereby the federal government agreed to halt a federal sex abuse investigation against Epstein in return for Epstein pleading guilty to a lesser offense.  That plea deal was criticized by many as being overly lenient and enabled Epstein to avoid a potentially more severe punishment.  

Following Epstein’s recent arrest, increased attention was put on that 2008 plea deal with many Democrats calling for Secretary Acosta’s resignation.  Secretary Acosta recently held a press conference in which he defended his actions and appeared to assuage concerns in the White Hoise about the criticism.  However, it appears that press conference did not resolve the matter, given the unexpected resignation announcement this morning.

It is worth noting that President Trump indicated the resignation was voluntarily given and praised Secretary Acosta for his work at the Department of Labor.  At this point, it is too early to predict who will be nominated to fill the vacant Labor Secretary position.  I would keep an eye on this over the coming weeks as a new nominee will likely be put forth shortly.


For additional information:  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1029226

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