Acosta Is Out at Labor, But Dems Still Have Questions for Him

After a high-pressure week, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said he would step down as the agency’s head, but he may still have to answer for his involvement in a plea deal for a disgraced financier more than a decade ago.

Acosta faced a growing number of calls from lawmakers and progressive groups demanding he resign for his involvement in the 2008 sentencing deal for Jeffrey Epstein that allowed the billionaire to avoid serious punishment for sex trafficking of minors.

“Mr. Acosta’s resignation does not absolve the Justice Department of its obligation to release a full review of the Epstein case, which I requested along with other Members more than six months ago,” Education and Labor Committee Chairman Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) said in a July 12 statement. “The Epstein case is an extraordinary example of the ordinary ways in which money and power often determine who prevails in our criminal justice system. We must have a national conversation about the deep inequities that this case represents.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), ranking member of the House Appropriations subcommittee governing the DOL’s budget, said Acosta’s resignation July 12 was an unfortunate loss.

“He was a talented secretary of labor,” Cole said. “I think the secretary is really the victim of a political crossfire.”

Patrick Pizzella, Acosta’s deputy since 2018, will step in as acting Labor Secretary.

Still Seeking Answers

Lawmakers who demanded Acosta step down say they’re still seeking answers to questions on the Epstein case from 2008. The soon-to-be former secretary could still face a House Oversight Committee hearing on the matter.

After Epstein was indicted July 8 on new federal sex trafficking charges, Maryland Democrats Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, chairman of that panel’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, sent a letter inviting Acosta to testify at a public hearing on July 23.

Discussions are ongoing regarding Acosta’s testimony, an Oversight Committee staffer said.

Cummings and Raskin also joined Democratic Reps. Jackie Speier (Calif.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), and Lois Frankel (Fla.) in requesting a briefing from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility on the status of the investigation into Acosta’s and others’ conduct in the U.S. attorneys’ office when handling that 2008 case.

Frankel said July 11 before Acosta announced his resignation that she intended to follow up with the case, potentially pushing for a separate hearing involving Epstein’s victims as well as Acosta. In an April House Appropriations Committee hearing, Frankel pressed Acosta on his handling of the Epstein case. She followed up with a written request for responses, which as of July 12 his office hadn’t provided.

“There are just a lot of questions here and we want answers,” she said July 11. She reiterated her desire for justice for Epstein’s victims July 12 and said she seeks answers from the state and federal prosecutors on what happened during the 2008 case against Epstein.

The DOJ and the DOL didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.