Former Attorneys General, a former FBI director, former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were all named by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday as individuals who might be subpoenaed for cases involving Jeffrey Epstein.
The news release did not, however, include Alex Acosta, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, whose covert non-prosecution deal with Epstein ignited a controversy that has raged for almost 20 years.
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During his first term, Acosta also served as President Donald Trump’s labor secretary. After coming under fire for the Epstein plea deal, Acosta resigned from the position in 2019.
Epstein’s sexual abuse victims are upset that Acosta was left out of the subpoena.
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How can Alex Acosta be left out of any real probe into the federal government’s shady dealings with Epstein, including the exceptional gift of blanket immunity to all of his co-conspirators, both named and unnamed? In a statement to NBC News, Epstein victim lawyer Jack Scarola posed the question.
“Anyone familiar with the history of litigation related to Jeffrey Epstein knows from our decade-long fight to enforce the Crimes Victims Rights Act that Alex Acosta is an important person to subpoena in any quest for the truth,” stated Brittany Henderson, another Epstein victim attorney.
On Wednesday, the family of Virginia Giuffre, one of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse who committed herself this year, reaffirmed the importance of first consulting and listening to the victims.
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The Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee’s Republicans and Democrats unanimously approved a motion proposed by Rep. Scott Perry in July, instructing the Chairman to send targeted subpoenas to Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales. This was the response given by a committee spokesperson via text message when NBC News asked why Acosta was not subpoenaed. The subpoenas have now been issued by Chairman Comer.
The chairman of the committee is Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.
Gonzalez was Acosta’s supervisor at the time of the deal, according to public records. Additionally, documents reveal that Acosta was the one who initially decided to pursue what many legal experts have referred to as a “sweetheart deal” in order to agree not to prosecute Epstein.
According to a summary of a Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into the Epstein non-prosecution agreement that resulted in a 348-page report in November 2020, Acosta approved or developed the terms of the initial offer to the defense that set the stage for the subsequent negotiations that resulted in the NPA, or non-prosecution agreement, and made the crucial decision to resolve the federal investigation of Epstein through a state-based plea.
According to the report, Acosta’s top lieutenants approached the FBI, the victims, and the federal prosecutor looking into the matter, offering Epstein a plea deal to state charges.
Her immediate superiors refused to allow Marie Villafana, the prosecutor at the time, to meet with Acosta to discuss her stance and the strength of the case. In an email to her then-supervisor, Matt Menschel, she voiced her worries and frustrations about why an indictment was filed and why decisions regarding a plea agreement were still being made despite the U.S. attorney’s office assuring her that it would not give in to Epstein’s lawyers, according to the report.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by Acosta.
One contributor was Peter Nicholas.
