Lawmakers interview Acosta amid accusations he mishandled Epstein case

Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee gave different accounts of the testimony of Alex Acosta, the former Trump Labor Secretary who initially prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein when serving as a U.S. attorney.

Acosta sat with the panel behind closed doors for several hours Friday, answering questions about his handling of the case.

House Democrats on Friday echoed the testimony of FBI Director Kash Patel, who on Tuesday said the “original sin” in the case was the failure to more aggressively prosecute Epstein from the start.

“It's very clear that Alex Acosta ran a deeply flawed investigation of the Epstein case. That's clear. He also would not admit that Mr. Epstein received a sweetheart deal, which has been widely reported and agreed upon since that deal was actually made by Mr. Acosta and his team,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, said at the close of the interview.

“[He] stands by the decision to have given Mr. Epstein a sweetheart deal — it was only 18 months — and which during that time, he went on to abuse multiple women. In his questioning, he also agreed and stood by those decisions and would not claim any responsibility to the victims, and in fact admitted that he had no knowledge of what happened to those victims, even to this day.”

Under Acosta, Epstein pleaded guilty to some sex crimes charges involving minors, but under the deal, he was able to have substantial work release privileges.

The criticism of Acosta’s handling of Epstein’s first case was aired by Patel, who also accused Acosta of not issuing broad enough subpoenas to review the conduct of the convicted sex offender.

He said the deal also hamstrung other prosecutions.

“The original sin in the Epstein case was the way it was initially brought by Mr. Acosta back in 2006. The original case involved a very limited search warrant or set of search warrants, and didn’t take as much investigatory material as it should have seized,” Patel said. 

“If I were the FBI director then, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Republicans on the panel stressed the cooperation of the Trump administration in the case but stopped short of making any judgment calls on Acosta’s handling of the case.

“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. This information will guide our next steps as we work to bring accountability, and we expect to announce new action soon. We will also release the transcript of Mr. Acosta’s interview to ensure transparency for the American people,” committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

An attorney for Acosta did not immediately respond to request for comment, but a readout of the hearing from committee Republicans indicated he has misgivings about the strength of the case and the risks of losing.

“Mr. Acosta also referenced a statement from the lead prosecutor outlining evidentiary issues that could jeopardize a conviction if the case went to trial. The consensus within the U.S. Attorney’s Office was to pursue a negotiated resolution given the challenges of securing a guilty verdict,” Republicans wrote in a summary of the interview.

“Mr. Acosta expressed concern that if the case had gone to trial and prosecutors lost, it would have sent the message that Epstein had escaped accountability and could continue committing offenses.”

Acosta also reportedly said he was unaware Epstein would gain work release.

“Mr. Acosta stated his office received multiple assurances that Jeffrey Epstein would not be allowed on work release yet somehow Palm Beach County allowed it to happen. Mr. Acosta later stated that had the U.S. Attorney’s Office known the state would allow Epstein to go on work release and fail to address or prosecute the case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Mr. Acosta would not have agreed to returning it to the state level,” Republicans stated.

“He expressed remorse and that the decision was on him.”

According to Republicans, Acosta never saw President Trump’s name referenced on any files and also said he was not pressured to resign during the first Trump administration.