The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday listed former attorneys general, a former FBI director, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as people all subject to subpoenas for matters tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
However, not named in the news release was Alex Acosta — who was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida whose secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein created a spark that has turned into an inferno of controversy nearly 20 years later.
Acosta also was President Donald Trump’s labor secretary during his first term. Acosta left the role in 2019 after he faced scrutiny over the Epstein plea agreement.
Victims of Epstein’s sexual abuse are unhappy that Acosta was not among those subpoenaed.
“How can any genuine investigation into the federal government’s sweetheart deal with Epstein (including the extraordinary grant of blanket immunity to all his named and unnamed co-conspirators) omit Alex Acosta?” Epstein victim attorney Jack Scarola asked in a statement to NBC News.
Brittany Henderson, another Epstein victim attorney, said, “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.”
Relatives of Virginia Giuffre, one of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse, who died by suicide this year, reiterated Wednesday that the victims should be consulted and heard first.
Asked by NBC News why Acosta was not subpoenaed, a committee spokesperson said by text message that “in a voice vote, both Republicans and Democrats on the Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee in July approved a motion offered by Rep. Scott Perry by unanimous consent directing the Chairman to issue targeted subpoenas to Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales. Chairman Comer has now issued the subpoenas.”
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is the committee’s chairman.
Public records show that Gonzalez was Acosta’s boss at the time the agreement was reached. Records also show it was Acosta who first made the decision to pursue what many legal analysts have called a “sweetheart deal” to agree not to prosecute Epstein.
A Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into the Epstein non-prosecution agreement, which led to a 348-page report in November 2020, says it was Acosta who “made the pivotal decision to resolve the federal investigation of Epstein through a state-based plea and either developed or approved the terms of the initial offer to the defense that set the beginning point for the subsequent negotiations that led to the NPA,” or non-prosecution agreement, according to the report’s summary.
The report says Acosta’s top lieutenants went around the federal prosecutor investigating the case, the FBI and the victims by making an offer for Epstein to plea to state charges.
The prosecutor at the time, Marie Villafana, was denied a meeting with Acosta by her immediate supervisors to explain her position and the strength of the case. She expressed her concerns and frustrations in an email to her supervisor at the time, Matt Menschel, about why an indictment was brought and why decisions were being made about a plea deal even after, she says, the U.S. attorney’s office reassured her it would not cave in to Epstein’s attorneys, the report says.
Acosta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Peter Nicholas contributed.
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