House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed relief Friday after the announcement that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was stepping down following new scrutiny of the deal helped negotiate with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

'Thank god he's gone,' Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol Friday.

She spoke hours after Trump hailed Acosta as a 'great' labor secretary, and expressed sympathy for Acosta's predicament of being questioned about the deal he reached, comparing it to his own struggles negotiating deals with Democrats.

'You can always second guess people and you can say he should have been tougher. They do it with me all the time. I make a great deal with anybody, and then they say, like the Democrats, oh it could have been better,' Trump said.

'You can always been second-guessed. That's what people do,' Trump vented.

'Thank god he’s gone,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday after Alex Acosta announced his resignation

Acosta was under fire for negotiating a deal that allowed Epstein to get out of country jail after just 13 months and get to take part in work release at his office. Federal prosecutors in New York on Monday charged Epstein with trafficking in underage girls.

Trump also announced Friday he was naming Patrick Pizzella as acting secretary – just the latest person to hold a top position in an 'acting' capacity without going through Senate confirmation.

Pizzella is Acosta's deputy, and Trump told reporters Acosta had recommended him, though he didn't specify if it was for his initial assignment or to succeed him now.

However Pizzella's own confirmation was not without controversy. A former partner at the Preston Gates lobbying firm, he is a former associate of disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

As part of Abramoff's team, he worked to exempt U.S. territories like the Marianas from minimum wage restrictions, as CNBC noted. The island was accused of running sweatshops to manufacture products that could still bear the 'Made in the USA' label.

Acosta came under fire for negotiating a deal that had Jeffrey Epstein avoid federal prosecution

Epstein registered as a sex offender and did 13 months in jail after a 2008 deal, but was only charged Monday with sex trafficking underage girls

Trump named Patrick Pizzella as acting secretary of labor. He did lobbying work with disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including to keep a U.S. territory exempt from a federal bipartisan minimum wage law

President Trump defended Acosta on Friday even as he accepted his resignation

According to Senate lobby disclosure reports, Pizzella is also listed as lobbying for the MIssissippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a group that paid Abramoff more than $11 million for lobbying activities from 1999 to 2004.

Abramoff, who served time in prison for fraud and then tried to call out unethical practices in a book after he got released, in 2017 praised Pizzella. 'I think it shows that the Trump administration is trying to get somebody who’s really experienced, smart and somebody who really knows the issues,' he said, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.

In a connection that might go over even worse with Trump, Pizzella lobbied on behalf of Turner Broadcasting System, the parent company of CNN.

Trump praised Pizzella Friday as he left the White House, after looking down at a note card he was holding.

'As everybody knows, we have Pat Pizzella, who right now is a deputy, and he’ll be Acting for a period of time,' Trump said, referring to his status as acting secretary. 'I think you know Pat. He’s a good man, highly recommended by Alex. But Pat is going to be Acting, and we’ve already informed him.