BREAKING: US Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns over Epstein case

US Labour Secretary Alex Acosta is resigning amid criticism of his brokering of a plea deal for financier Jeffrey Epstein in a child sex case.



Mr Acosta, a former Florida prosecutor, made the announcement from the White House Lawn on Friday, as President Donald Trump stood by his side.



Democrats had called for him to quit over his handling of the Epstein case.



Mr Acosta had been defending the plea deal in a news conference only two days ago.



Mr. Trump told reporters that the two had spoken on the phone earlier on Friday morning and that it was Mr Acosta's decision.









Mr Acosta was the US Attorney in Miami in 2008 when he oversaw a non-prosecution deal against Epstein which allowed him to serve 13 months in jail - with much of that spent on work release at his Palm Beach office.



"I wanted to help them," Mr Acosta said of the 36 victims identified in the case against Epstein, during the hour-long press conference at the labour department on Wednesday.



"That is why we intervened," he said. "And that's what the prosecutors of my office did - they insisted that he go to jail and put the world on notice that he was and is a sexual predator."





[BBC]

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