"My understanding is that’s a very complicated case ... but that they made the best possible decision and deal they could have gotten at that time," Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Alexander Acosta's involvement. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images White House Trump: Acosta has 'done a great job as labor secretary' Controversial Epstein plea deal 'seems like a long time ago,' the president said.

President Donald Trump expressed confidence today in Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, but said he was unfamiliar with the controversial 2008 plea deal that Acosta, then U.S. attorney for southern Florida, struck with billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

"I really don't know too much about it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I know he's done a great job as labor secretary, and that seems like a long time ago, but I know he's been a fantastic labor secretary. That's all I can really tell you about it. That's all I know about it."


The president's comments came one day after a federal judge ruled that Acosta and other federal prosecutors acted unlawfully in 2008 by failing to keep Epstein's underage female victims informed about Epstein's notably lenient plea deal to avoid federal prosecution.

Asked about the ruling, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters "We’re looking into the matter, I’m not aware of any changes on that front."

Sanders added: "My understanding is that’s a very complicated case ... but that they made the best possible decision and deal they could have gotten at that time."

U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Marra on Thursday ruled that federal prosecutors violated the Crime Victims Rights Act by failing to keep Epstein's victims adequately informed about the plea deal, and he mentioned numerous times Acosta's direct involvement in the 2008 case. Acosta is not expected to be fined or otherwise penalized, but he may receive a formal admonition from the bench or from a professional bar association.

Epstein dispatched associates to find teenage girls, many of them underage, to visit his home in Palm Beach for "massages," which would often involve sex acts, according to evidence in the case. Epstein faced a lenient 18-month sentence, but he was released five months early and was given lax conditions in which he was on work-release during the day.

In addition, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog for attorney misconduct, the Office of Professional Responsibility, earlier this month announced it had opened an investigation into the government's conduct in the case.

Despite key details of the case being known when Acosta was confirmed as labor secretary, an extensive report by the Miami Herald with new interviews with Epstein's victims brought fresh attention to the case and prompted Democratic lawmakers to demand an investigation.