"I don't think it's right or fair to have this administration's labour department have Epstein be the focus instead of the incredible economy we have today," Acosta said. "It would be selfish for me to stay in the position and continue talking about a case that is 12 years old." President Donald Trump, accompanied by Labour Secretary Alex Acosta, said he didn't want his Cabinet member to resign. Credit:AP Trump said that Patrick Pizzella, currently Deputy Secretary of Labour, will become acting Secretary of the department. The 2008 plea deal in Florida came under renewed scrutiny in light of Epstein's indictment on Monday on more child sex trafficking charges in New York. At a news conference on Wednesday, Acosta defended his role as the federal prosecutor in brokering the plea deal for Epstein, but lawyers for alleged victims criticised his explanation and Democrats called for him to appear at a congressional hearing in two weeks.

He said a state's attorney in Palm Beach County was preparing to allow Epstein to plead to a single charge of solicitation that did not make a reference to the age of the female minor. That deal would have carried no jail time and would not have required Epstein to register as a sex offender. "We wanted to see Epstein go to jail," Acosta said. "He needed to go to jail." The former state's attorney for Palm Beach County at the time of the Epstein plea deal released a statement disputing Acosta's account following the news conference. "I can emphatically state that Mr Acosta's recollection of this matter is completely wrong," said Barry Krischer, who added that Acosta could have moved forward with a 53-page indictment that his office had drafted.

Loading After Acosta's news conference, the reaction inside the White House was mixed, according to a senior White House official, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly. Some aides thought Acosta had adequately explained his handling of the Epstein case, and had "won" by not further harming himself, the official said. But others had been expecting a more animated performance, and found Acosta's time before the cameras disappointing, saying he'd failed to mount a full-throated defence of himself. Trump expressed scepticism at Acosta's performance and began asking senior aides what he should do about him, according to two White House officials, who also requested anonymity to speak candidly. Acosta was disliked by acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who told others he was ineffective at implementing the administration's deregulation agenda, the officials said.

But Trump did not originally want to be seen as cutting ties with him over a decade-old episode, even as some of his longest advisers believed Acosta's departure was inevitable given the cascade of sustained news coverage and the facts of the case. Loading Trump told reporters that he thought Acosta had "explained" the plea deal during his news conference. "He made a deal that people were happy with, and 12 years later they weren't happy with it," Trump said. "You'll have to figure that out." Publicly, congressional Republicans continued to stand by Acosta, saying issues about the plea deal were vetted at his confirmation hearing in 2017.