Donald Trump has announced that his Labour Secretary, Alex Acosta, will step down after fierce scrutiny and criticism over his handling of a case involving financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2007. The US president said on Friday morning that Mr Acosta called him this morning and that it was the embattled labour secretary’s decision to resign. Mr Acosta was the US attorney for Southern Florida when, in 2007, Epstein escaped prosecution on federal sex-trafficking charges and was instead allowed to plead guilty to lesser state crimes. Epstein, who potentially faced a life sentence, was jailed for 13 months but allowed to leave jail for 12 hours a day to go to work. He was also required to register as a sex offender and compensate his victims. Dozens of women have accused Epstein, a 66-year-old multimillionaire financier who once counted Bill Clinton, Mr Trump and Prince Andrew among his friends, of bringing them to his mansions in Florida and New York for massages, and then sexually assaulting them. Mr Trump announces the resignation of Mr Acosta before departing for Milwaukee Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Some were as young as 14. Epstein was arrested on fresh child sex charges on Saturday, bringing renewed focus to his earlier plea deal. Mr Acosta issued an impassioned defence of his decision not to prosecute Epstein on Thursday, insisting that he acted with the victims’ best interests at heart and refusing to answer whether he had considered resigning. However on Friday he said his involvement in the controversial case had become a distraction and announced his intention to stand down in a week. Making the announcement as he left the White House, Mr Trump said he was a “great labour secretary, not a good one.” He added that he did a “very good job”.
