On Wednesday, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta appeared before a budget appropriations subcommittee to testify about the effectiveness of the Labor Department’s 2020 budget which calls for a 10 percent cut in programs affecting millions of workers. When it came time for Acosta to testify whether or not he could safeguard children from illegal labor practices and combat human trafficking, multiple lawmakers grilled him over the sweetheart deal he gave convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffery Epstein who is also suspected of running a massive child sex trafficking ring.

During the testimony, Acosta defended his cuts to multiple programs, noting that the new budget provides “greater investment in programs that work, eliminates programs that do not, and generally bolsters opportunities for working Americans through common-sense reforms.’’

However, some of these cuts are to programs designed to stop child trafficking which makes very little “common sense” given the administration’s ostensible view on the matter. When the cuts to these programs designed to prevent human trafficking were brought up, lawmakers were given the green light to bring up the Epstein conspiracy.

“This is not the first time you have ignored human trafficking,’’ said Massachusetts representative Katherine Clark.

As TFTP has reported on multiple occasions, Epstein is a convicted child molester and sexually abused no less than 40 underage girls. Despite this fact, Acosta protected him while serving as a U.S. Attorney in Florida. Had Acosta actually prosecuted Epstein for his crimes, Epstein would have gone to prison for life.

However, instead of going to prison for life as he should’ve, considering the evidence against him, Epstein only got 13 months and was allowed to stay in the Palm Beach County Jail in his own private cell where he was allowed to leave the prison six days a week for “work release.”

In February, a federal judge made a bombshell ruling which stated that the prosecutors who worked under then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta—now Trump’s Labor Secretary—broke the law when handling the case of the billionaire pedophile.

According to the ruling, the prosecutors acted illegally when they concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by the New York hedge fund manager.

“The government aligned themselves with Epstein, working against his victims, for 11 years,’’ Brad Edwards, who represents Courtney Wild — Jane Doe No. 1 in the case — said. “Yes, this is a huge victory, but to make his victims suffer for 11 years, this should not have happened. Instead of admitting what they did, and doing the right thing, they spent 11 years fighting these girls.’’

As the Miami Herald—who has been critical in shining light on this darkest area—points out:

The deal, signed in 2007, was done in secret, and it was sealed so that no one could know how many girls Epstein abused or who else was involved in his scheme. Moreover, Acosta’s staff agreed to demands by Epstein’s lawyers that the victims not be made aware of the federal non-prosecution agreement until after it was signed and executed.

This illegal deal came up during the budget testimony on Wednesday.

“The judge found you broke the law, Mr. Acosta, when you chose not to tell the victims about this deal and you gave them the impression that the investigation was ongoing,’’ said Clark at the hearing. “Was the judge right?’’

Acosta attempted to avoid the question before Clark interrupted, saying, “I asked you a yes or no question.”

Still, Acosta avoided answering the question.

After Clark grilled him, Rep. Lois Frankel joined in and told the Labor Secretary “many people in my community are upset that you allowed a sexual predator on the loose.” 

Again, Acosta defended his position and noted that his actions sent Epstein to jail for 13 month—a laughable defense for a disgustingly lenient sentence and when we take a closer look, it’s not at all true.

Epstein never really went to jail. This was a fact admitted by Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw during a radio interview last week on WLRN. During the interview Bradshaw explained how Epstein spent almost no time in jail and had a private driver pick him up daily and drive him to his office where he was allowed to go about his life as normal.

“All we did was house him,’’ Bradshaw told Luis Hernandez, host of the station’s Sundial program, according to the Herald. “He met the criteria for work release. He was not adjudicated as a violent sex offender — he wasn’t even adjudicated as a sex offender.’’

Still, Acosta defends his actions.

“Let me just say I understand the frustration, but if the state prosecuted him, he was going to get off entirely …it was the work of our office that resulted in him going to jail and it was the work of our office that made it so the world was put on notice that he is a sex offender.’’

These claims are entirely unfounded as civil case after civil case have all been successfully leading to untold millions being paid out to his former victims, not to mention that the sheriff himself denied the fact that Epstein served any significant time behind bars.

Despite this glaring case of special privilege given to a person who preyed on dozens of children, Acosta was appointed to his position in the federal government, a disturbing notion indeed.

Article posted with permission from Matt Agorist.