Twitter's Saying "Bye" To Alex Acosta After His Resignation Over The Epstein Scandal
On Friday, July 12, President Donald Trump announced in a press gaggle outside the White House that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta had resigned, making him the ninth cabinet official to leave the Trump administration, per CNN. Acosta's resignation comes as he faces heavy criticism for a 2008 plea deal he made with billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged this week with child sex trafficking. Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a lawyer for Epstein did not respond to Elite Daily's request for additional comment. However, these tweets about Acosta's resignation after the Epstein scandal seem to make it clear that he won't be widely missed. Elite Daily has reached out to the Department of Labor (DOL) for comment on Acosta's resignation, but did not immediately hear back. Just three days prior to Trump's announcement, the DOL told Elite Daily in a July 9 email that Acosta had "no plans to resign."
In recent days, Acosta has been widely criticized for his involvement in a 12-year-old plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal charges on alleged sex abuse of young girls. In 2008, Epstein faced federal charges of allegedly sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls in Florida, which carried the possibility of life in prison. However, Acosta, a U.S. attorney at the time, offered Epstein a generous plea deal, and Epstein ultimately only served 13 months in jail by pleading guilty to a lesser state charge of soliciting prostitution. On July 6, Epstein was arrested in New York on charges of alleged sex trafficking, BuzzFeed News reported. On July 8, he was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors and is being held without bail, per CNBC. Epstein pleaded not guilty to these charges, and his lawyer did not return a request for further comment from Elite Daily by the time of publication.
Following the scandal, Twitter users don't seem very sorry to see Acosta go.
Despite the backlash Acosta has faced for his handling of the 2008 Epstein case, Trump lauded Acosta for being a "great labor secretary" during his July 12 press conference.
"He made a deal the people were happy with and 12 years later they're not happy with it," Trump said about Acosta. The decision to resign "was him, not me, because I'm with him. He's a tremendous talent, he's a Hispanic man, he went to Harvard, a great student, and in so many ways I just hate what he's saying now because we're going to miss him."
Acosta, meanwhile, criticized the media for focusing on Epstein, rather than "the incredible economy that we have today."
"It would be selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case that's 12 years old rather than about the amazing economy we have right now," Acosta told reporters.
As evidenced by the above tweets, Acosta faced criticism for repeatedly dismissing his handling of the Epstein case, and it was clear that social media users would not miss him upon his departure.
