The Latest: Acosta: My relationship with Trump ‘outstanding’
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on developments in the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein (all times local):
2:55 p.m.
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta says his role in a molestation case involving financier Jeffrey Epstein hasn’t changed his relationship with President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
He told reporters in a news conference Wednesday that his relationship with the president is “outstanding.” He says he spoke with Mulvaney earlier Wednesday and has an excellent relationship with the chief of staff as well.
Acosta, a former federal prosecutor in south Florida, has been under scrutiny for his part in a secret 2008 plea deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution on charges that he molested teenage girls.
A senior administration official tells The Associated Press that Trump encouraged Acosta to hold a press conference laying out his thinking and role on the plea deal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to new charges in New York City.
— Associated Press writer Zeke Miller
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2:45 p.m.
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is defending his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, saying he tried to avoid a deal allowing the wealthy financier to “walk free.”
Acosta is a former federal prosecutor in South Florida. He is being criticized for his part in a secret 2008 plea deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution on charges that he molested teenage girls.
Acosta said Wednesday that the case started as a state matter, not with his office. He says that the Palm Beach state attorney’s office was “ready to let Epstein walk free. No jail time. Nothing.”
Acosta says federal prosecutors found that to be unacceptable. He says prosecutors presented an ultimatum of pleading guilty to more serious charges that required jail time and restitution.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to recent New York charges.
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1:10 p.m.
A woman who accuses Jeffrey Epstein of raping her when she was 15 has filed court papers in preparation for suing him.
Lawyers for 32-year-old Jennifer Araoz (uh-ROHS’) filed the papers Wednesday in New York, seeking information from Epstein.
Messages were left with Epstein’s attorneys seeking comment. Epstein pleaded not guilty Monday to federal sex trafficking charges that don’t include Araoz’s allegations, which weren’t reported to authorities and were shared for the first time Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show.
The court papers say that starting when Araoz was 14, she would give him massages that would often lead to sex acts.
She says after months of massages, he forcibly raped her in 2002.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Araoz has done.
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10:10 a.m.
One of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers says he raped her at his New York home when she was 15.
Jennifer Araoz (Uh-ROHS’) said Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show she hasn’t spoken to authorities about her allegations against the wealthy financier because she feared retribution.
Like other victims, Araoz says she was told to undress and give Epstein massages that often led to groping and sex acts. She says he “forcefully raped” her when she was 15 despite her pleas asking him to stop.
Messages were left with Epstein’s defense attorneys seeking comment about Araoz’s claims.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. His lawyers said in court that the allegations in the indictment couldn’t amount to statutory rape because there was no penetration.
