Trump's labour secretary says 'no regrets' over handing of Jeffrey Epstein case as new alleged child victim comes forward
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Donald Trump has tried to downplay his relationship with disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein after previously labelling the former Mar-a-Lago guest “a terrific guy”, insisting: ”I don’t think I have spoken with him for 15 years. I was not a fan.”
The financier was arrested and charged in a New York court on Monday with sex trafficking, accused of luring dozens of underage girls to his luxury homes and paying them for sex, a development inspiring Democratic calls for labour secretary Alexander Acosta to resign over his involvement in the Epstein case while working as an attorney in Florida in 2008.
The news comes as the president prepares to host a social media summit at the White House on Thursday, with alt-right meme-makers and a political cartoonist whose work has been branded “blatantly antisemitic” by the Anti-Defamation League in attendance.
Mr Acosta meanwhile addressed his involvement in the Florida case during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, saying that when he was a federal prosecutor in Florida, his office acted appropriately when it came to the secret plea deal offered to Epstein.
Mr Acosta was asked if he owed an apology to women who said Epstein molested them when they were underage.
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He said the prosecution didn’t want to share with the victims that there were efforts to gain restitution for them from Epstein.
He also said there was concern that if negotiations fell through, Epstein’s counsel could use the prospect of restitution to question their credibility.
Mr Acosta said, “In our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims.”
The US Women’s World Cup star led the incumbent by 42 per cent to 41 in the speculative survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP), a left-leaning outfit, while a hefty 17 per cent of respondents said they did not know who they would vote for.
Rapinoe’s performance in the automated phone and internet poll was similar to that of other Democratic candidates pitted against Mr Trump by PPP in previous surveys.
The hunt to track down the source of the leak of confidential dispatches of Britain’s ambassador to Washington has turned into one of the most intense investigations of its kind in recent times, with a wide range of expertise available to the government being brought in to help.
The exact extent to which the security and intelligence services are involved at this stage cannot be disclosed.
But the issue is being treated with “the utmost importance” according to senior officials who say they are confident that “those who may be involved inside and outside Whitehall” in the affair will be tracked down.
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Another alleged child victim of Jeffrey Epstein has come forward with allegations the billionaire financier raped her when she was underage (she is now 32). The development arrives a day after Donald Trump attempted to distance himself from Mr Epstein, who he has known for several decades and praised in past interviews -
Donald Trump has called himself an “extremely stable genius” over the years, pointing to his Ivy League education from Pennsylvania’s Wharton School for businesses as an example of the “super genius stuff” he claims to be capable of achieving.
However, a new report featuring insight from the school’s former admissions officer who met Mr Trump during his application process has shed new light on just how easy it was for the president to get into the university in the 1960s.
James Nolan, the former admissions officer who reportedly was the only official from his department to meet with Mr Trump during the admissions process, said he was not significantly impressed by the future president when the pair met at the time.
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