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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Former US attorney defends Epstein’s 2008 plea deal in hours-long
appearance on Capitol Hill
By Annie Grayer, CNN
Updated:
5:44 PM EDT, Fri September 19, 2025
Source: CNN
The former US attorney who negotiated a controversial 2008 plea deal
with defended that agreement in a closed-door meeting with House
investigators Friday, according to Democrats in the room.
“It’s very clear that Alex Acosta ran a deeply flawed investigation
of the Epstein case,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the
panel, told reporters during a break in the meeting. “He also would
not admit that Mr. Epstein received a sweetheart deal, which has been
widely reported and agreed upon.”
According to a readout from the panel, Acosta expressed concern over
the hours-long testimony to the House Oversight Committee that had
prosecutors lost at trial, it could have sent a message that the late
convicted sex offender’s crimes could continue. A key issue in the US
Southern District of Florida’s handling of the case was whether it
should be prosecuted federally or locally, he said, per the readout.
“I testified for six hours. I’ll let the record speak for
itself,” Acosta, the former US Attorney in Miami, said as he left
Capitol Hill.
Emerging from the room partway through the transcribed testimony,
Democrats on the panel dismissed Acosta as “not credible” and said
they left the first round of questioning with more questions than
answers.
Acosta, they said, told investigators he didn’t see sufficient
evidence to move forward with the case even though approximately 40
women had come forward to share their accounts of sexual assault.
“He seems to be pretty dug into the decisions that he made,”
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett said of Acosta.
Epstein, a well-connected multi-millionaire, avoided a federal trial at
the time of the plea deal and served just 13 months in prison for state
prostitution charges over his involvement with underage girls. A Miami
Herald investigation described the plea deal, negotiated by Acosta, as
In July 2019, the financier was arrested and charged in connection with
having operated a sex trafficking ring. The next month, Epstein died by
suicide at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal
detention facility where he was being held.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, however,
described Acosta as cooperative and helpful throughout his appearance.
“Alex Acosta cooperated with our questions today and provided
information that will help advance our investigation into the federal
government’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases,” Comer said
in a statement. “This information will guide our next steps as we
work to bring accountability, and we expect to announce new action
soon.”
Acosta, Comer said, told the committee he never met Epstein nor
Ghislaine Maxwell, and testified that he never saw President Donald
Trump’s name on any document related to the late financier.
Comer knocked Democrats’ line of questioning related to Trump during
the interview, saying, “They were batting around so many questions
about Trump. The members were talking over each other. It was all about
Trump.”
Acosta, who also served as Trump’s secretary of the Department of
Labor during his first term, resigned in 2019 amid renewed scrutiny
over the plea deal he had negotiated with Epstein a decade before.
On Friday, he reiterated that it was his decision alone to resign,
according to a readout from the House committee.
The 2008 plea deal has come under scrutiny yet again amid the House
Oversight Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Epstein case.
Earlier this week, testimony from FBI Director Kash Patel how some in
the Trump administration appear to be pointing blame at Acosta as the
president and his team are being pushed by members of their own party
to be more transparent and release all of the Epstein case files.
During his Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill, Patel twice brought up
Acosta unprompted, including in his opening statement.
The oversight panel, meanwhile, has been plowing ahead with its
investigation into the so-called Epstein files.
The panel a group of high-profile Democratic and Republican figures for
information and interviews between August and mid-October, including
Acosta, and have so far released former Attorney General on the matter.
The Republican-led committee has also received two batches of documents
from Epstein’s estate as the result of a subpoena, a collection of
letters gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday. The panel has
subpoenaed the Department of Justice for all of its Epstein-related
files, and the documents it has received so far, most of which were
already public.
In recent days, the committee also met with Epstein abuse survivors and
is working with the Treasury Department to certain bank activity
reports.
The lawmakers have withdrawn subpoenas for former Attorneys General
Alberto Gonzalez and Jeff Sessions, a committee aide told CNN, after
both men stated in sworn letters that neither possessed any information
related to the committee’s investigation into Epstein.
This headline and story has been updated with additional developments.
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