Donald Trump’s embattled labour secretary has issued an impassioned defence of his decision not to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein, insisting that he acted with the victims’ best interests at heart and refusing to answer whether he had considered resigning.

Alex Acosta was the US attorney for Southern Florida when, in 2007, Epstein escaped prosecution on federal sex-trafficking charges and was instead allowed to plead guilty to lesser state crimes.

Dozens of women have accused Epstein, a billionaire 66-year-old financier who once counted Bill Clinton, Mr Trump and Prince Andrew among his friends, of bringing them to his mansions in Florida and New York for massages, and then sexually assaulting them. Some were as young as 14.

On Wednesday morning another woman, Jennifer Araoz, came forward and accused Epstein of raping her when she was 15.