Testimony of former U.S. attorney who brokered Epstein's 2008 plea bargain scheduled for House Oversight panel
In a significant development, Alexander Acosta, the former US Attorney in Miami, is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Friday in a closed-door deposition. The committee's probe is focused on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Acosta's appearance comes after he resigned as Labor Secretary in 2019 amid renewed scrutiny over the plea deal he had negotiated with Epstein a decade before. The Miami Herald described this deal as 'the deal of a lifetime.' Epstein avoided a federal trial at the time and served just 13 months in prison for state prostitution charges over his involvement with underage girls.
During his Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill, Acosta brought up Epstein unprompted, including in his opening statement. The new charges brought forward in 2019 sparked calls for Acosta's resignation. However, Epstein died by suicide at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center the next month, which halted the legal proceedings.
The Republican-led committee has received two batches of documents from Epstein's estate and has subpoenaed the Department of Justice for all of its Epstein-related files. The committee has also subpoenaed a group of high-profile Democratic and Republican figures for information and interviews, including Acosta.
The committee met with Epstein abuse survivors and is working with the Treasury Department to turn over certain bank activity reports. The panel has made public the documents it has received so far, most of which were already public.
FBI Director Kash Patel underscored how some in the Trump administration are pointing blame at Acosta. The oversight panel has been particularly interested in understanding the circumstances surrounding Epstein's plea deal and the role that various officials may have played in it.
It is expected that Acosta will have a challenging six-hour deposition. Despite Acosta's statement during his resignation that 'I think it is not right and fair to this administration of the Ministry of Labour that Epstein is the focus instead of the excellent economy we have today,' the committee remains determined to shed light on the Epstein case.
However, it is important to note that none of the search results directly attribute the quote to a specific person related to the Labour Ministry resignation. The closest relevant figure is Hubertus Heil, who served as the German Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs until May 6, 2025, but the quote is not directly linked to him in the results.
The committee withdrew subpoenas for former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzalez and Jeff Sessions after both men stated in sworn letters that they possessed no information related to the committee's investigation into Epstein. This suggests that the committee's focus is primarily on Acosta and his role in the Epstein case.
The committee's investigation into the Epstein case continues, with Acosta's deposition being a significant step in uncovering the truth behind the controversial plea deal and Epstein's subsequent death.
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