Donald Trump’s labour secretary Alex Acosta has resigned over his role in a controversial plea deal handed to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago – an apparent attempt to draw a line under an episode that had become an increasing distraction for the administration.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, the president said Mr Acosta had called him and offered to resign, saying the controversy had become a distraction from his work.
“He made a deal with Epstein] that people are happy with, and then 12 years later, they are not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out,” said Mr Trump. “But the fact is he has been a fantastic secretary of labour … this is him not me, because I am with him.”
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He added: “There is no need. I watched him yesterday.”
Mr Acosta has maintained when he helped prosecute financier Jeffrey Epstein for sex crimes in 2008 he sought the best prosecution deal he could, but acknowledged the terms of the deal now looked lenient.
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