Labor Secretary Resigns/Is Forced Out Amid Pressure Over Jeffrey Epstein Deal

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | July 12, 2019 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | July 12, 2019 |

Democrats have been calling on Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign for days over the sweetheart deal he negotiated as a U.S. Attorney in 2008 for Jeffrey Epstein, and now that he has, it’s little more than a headline story, although I suppose that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Someone does something bad, we create a big stink, we put pressure on them to resign, they try to put out the fire, they fail, and eventually they do resign. It’s actually pretty remarkable how effective public pressure has been in removing employees from the White House.

Top Trump Departures
Flynn
Walsh
Comey
Dubke
McFarland
Spicer
Priebus
Mooch
Bannon
Gorka
Icahn
Price
Powell
Manigault
McCabe
Porter
Raffel
Hicks
Cohn
Tillerson
McMaster
Shulkin
Anton
Bossert
Pruitt
Short
Haley
Sessions
Kelly
Ayers
Zinke
Mattis
Shine
McMahon
Nielsen
Sanders
Acosta

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 12, 2019

On the flip side, Trump usually replaces these people with even worse people, and he often names them as “acting” cabinet officials in order to get around Senate confirmation.

In January, Trump said "I sort of like ‘acting.’ It gives me more flexibility.”

He now has a non-permanent/acting:
- Defense Secretary
- Homeland Security Secretary
- Labor Secretary
- WH Chief of Staff https://t.co/3NN3Sau830

— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) July 12, 2019

In any respect, Trump says that Acosta resigned on his own, but that’s probably not entirely true. He was probably forced out after the White House told him not to hold a press conference. He did anyway, and then he performed poorly.

Acosta's folks thought he OK during his press conference, and were bullish yesterday. But Trump didn't like what he saw on TV, and WH was incensed he ignored their orders to shut up. As we reported, Acosta had hoped to survive until next week's cabinet meeting — but he didn't.

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) July 12, 2019

Ultimately, this is the long and short of it:

The Labor Secretary resigned in disgrace for giving the President’s friend, neighbor, and fellow sexual predator a sweetheart non-prosecution deal, the President announced.

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 12, 2019

And that’s that. But, without comment, I am going to leave this here for you.

HE HAS DAUGHTERS! Let that sink in. #AcostaResign #impeachacosta #prosecuteacosta pic.twitter.com/vXF3pT8DAZ

— TIDDLEMARSH (@martha84895177) July 9, 2019