I look at resignations like this, and see a few possibilities on the logic behind the resignation.
The person resigning would never again be able to do their job properly with the shadow of the scandal over them. Hence, resignation.
The person resigning is hoping the political opposition won’t press the issue, having forced a resignation. Thus evading investigation and possible charges.
The superior of the person resigning doesn’t want the scandal associated with their administration.
It appears, after reading the Wikipedia article for Alexander Acosta, that he may have done a number of things during his career that have benefitted all of us.
However, this particular instance just reeks of corruption. I’m inclined to think that there is a conspiracy at play here, and that a lot of our nation’s “elite” males are involved. From Bill Clinton to Alan Dershowitz and everyone in between. Acosta claimed at one point that he was told to leave this alone, as Epstein was “above [his] pay grade.” He’s not saying anything about that now, though. But one meeting with Epstein’s lawyers, which happened to take place outside the US Attorney’s office, was all it took for Acosta to agree to an overtly illegal deal. That sounds like leverage to me. Florida police surveiled Epstein for more than a year prior to his arrest, and they collected mountains of evidence and testimony. Prosecution may be difficult, but this should have been a slam dunk case.
(Edited to correct age of Epstein’s sole child victim of record from 14 to 17)
I think it’s worth mentioning that the person in question whom he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from was 17 years old. My understanding is that there is no applicable statute regarding prostitution when the “prostitute” is below the age of consent to be a prostitute. It’s simply considered statutory rape at best, and child sex trafficking at worst, if you’re anyone other than a connected pedophile billionaire. Acosta contorted and tortured the law to paint Epstein in the most favorable light possible. Acosta should definitely be held criminally liable for his intentional disservice to Epstein’s victim(s) for this act alone.
Why not both? But on the conspiracy part, you may be interested to know that Epstein was a member of the Trilateral Commission. No word on his attendance at Bohemian Grove…
Damn, if he was impeached, there would have been an opportunity for certain things to come to light…
I guess Trump wasn’t happy with the media reaction to his press conference. It’s always funny how Trump says someone is doing a great job then pushes them out when the “lying” media report negatively on them. It’s almost as if he doesn’t care (or know) how they’re doing in their job, but only cares about appearances…
That would be nice. Though first I suspect we’ll be hearing about his new seven-figure job working as a corporate liaison to the Labor Department.
Well, conspiracy or personal ineptness in this case - he broke the law in his handling of the plea deal. That wasn’t an institutional failing. So it isn’t just a sweetheart deal - usual or not - at issue here.
My understanding is although it was the testimony of a 14-year-old that kicked off the case against him, his plea deal involved a 17 year old, which meant he wasn’t even considered a sex offender in states where the age of consent was 17. So there was even more abuse of the law than is initially obvious…
I was listening to NPR the other day, and they covered this. One of the problems with the prosecution in the first place was that the investigating officer labelled the victim as a prostitute in their report, instead of as a minor who was sexually assaulted. If the officer hadn’t done that, it would have changed the nature of the charges in Florida.
So they are replacing Acosta with a supporter of human trafficking and slavery. Its like the White House holds a pool to see how long different functionaries last. This one is a ringer.
Okay, that’s messed up about sex offenders being able to change states and essential go unnoticed by authorities. Am I at least correct that the age of consent in Florida at the time was 18, so my overall point that his victim did not fall under prostitution statutes still stands? Regardless, there’s no way i’m apologizing to Epstein. If anything, he owes me an apology for the brain bleach I need after listening to a podcast about him.
The scandal isn’t that Epstein got a plea deal, it’s that he got such an incredibly cushy one. When a poor black suspect gets pressured into a plea deal they’re usually bargaining for terms that would let them see the outside of a prison before they die of old age.
Yeah but one of the reasons they plea deal out is to save time and money. Epstein could conceivably had it tied up in the courts for years and years. So giving him a plea deal isn’t unusual. But the cushy deal might be ineptness over conspiracy. If you suck at your job and the other lawyers are good, you might walk away thinking you did a good job getting the deal you got, and are able to mark “closed” on your case file.
Someone with less resources than Epstein and shitty lawyers might feel lucky they only got life instead of the death penalty for something.
Clearly not saying this is right or fair, just that it doesn’t necessarily constitute conspiracy. It’s Hanlon’s razor. “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Of course, that isn’t iron clad. There may well have been a conspiracy, I am not suggesting it isn’t possible - only that it isn’t the only possible reason. I have heard of some irregularities in the case, but don’t have enough understanding of it yet to have an informed opinion.
